Bushikatagi
by Saviourass
Summary: A young half-demon awakens 200 years before her lifetime to find herself in the Shinsengumi Headquarters, this is a story of her time spent with them and her strange companionship with one of the young captains named Okita Souji. Okita x OC
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Hakuouki or any of the characters within it, only character I own is the main character of this story :) there will be similarities to the show!

****Just a note: This story was written because of a dream I had that just couldn't get out of my head; it only went up to a certain point so I decided to play it out as such :)

Considering this is my first story ever I invite you to please review with anything that might need a change or update, I'm always happy to hear constructive criticism! :)

* * *

**A Twist of Fate**

The sudden breeze against her arms and legs made Kurisutaru shiver, making the tiny hairs stand stiff on her skin. She never did enjoy the chill that ran up her spine and made its' way to her bones in the late fall, it was a kind of chill that you couldn't get rid of with any amount of clothing once it sunk in. She slowly blinked her eyes open, cautious about her surroundings. She wasn't sure why she had fallen asleep outside, and she always forced herself to be so careful with these things. Her past had given her a rude awakening that nowhere is safe, not even your own home.

Being the young half demon she was, she wasn't accepted by anyone. Her parents had died when she was young, forcing her to fend for herself since the age of 7. She had no other siblings, no other family she could turn to.

_"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" The strangers called out as they chased after her._

_She was running for so long, she didn't know where she was going; she just knew she had to get far from that place. Far from where that village was, as it haunted her every thought with images of her dead parents, her loving family that accepted her for who she was that was no longer there. All that was left in that village was pain, fear, and sadness._

_As she ran the group of strangers chasing after her grew to a large number, she couldn't allow herself to be caught by them, by any means. She may have had the stamina of a half demon but she was still only a child, and it didn't take a genius to know that an adult will run faster than a child._

_As if entertaining these thoughts, she tripped, stumbling a few feet, scraping her knees and arms causing blood to surface and drip to the ground. She had never been as frightened as she was at that very moment in time; what she wouldn't give for someone to take her away from this place._

_Kurisutaru felt her heart pace quicken, her body pulsed as power surged through her._

_'Oh no… This can't be happening' she felt her body pulse again and her breathing slowed steadily._

_'What…. What's going on..?' She looked down to her shaking hands while her mind frantically raced for answers._

_Her body had been scraped up badly from the fall and her arms and legs were worn out a bruised. Her long dark brown hair was normally tied into a neat ponytail, but now it hung loose against her face which was now wet with tears._

_She had never experienced anything like this except what had been told to her, when she had nightmares of a terrible wolf-like creature clawing its way out of her. Her mother said it was her inner strength fighting its way out as an instinct for self preservation… and that sometimes when half demons are unconscious; their minds can be taken over by the full demon blood inside them…_

_She reached for her katana; it being forged with her father's very demonic essence it was said to be able to withstand and suppress the demonic presence inside of her but her hand grabbed only air above the sheath at her left side._

_'It must have… fallen…. When… I… When I….'_

Kurisutaru shuddered at her own memories, wishing they were something she had read about rather than experienced. She had never imagined she could have been the cause of such a tragedy

'That's in the past' she convinced herself 'I won't lose control of myself like that again, I'm stronger than that now'.

'I must have been asleep for a while' She sighed softly, pushing herself off the cold, hard ground, feeling a few blades of grass sticking to her legs she patted herself off as she straightened out. She took note of how dark it was around her and the crescent moon above her head surrounded by more stars than she had ever seen from her little temple home.

"Well I guess it's time to head to my room… No more strange teas before bed anymore… they're starting to do weird things to me even while awake" she muttered to herself amusingly.

"Maybe I'll calm down if I do some trai-" Her muttering was interrupted by a sudden shuffle and unsheathing of swords.

"Who goes there?"

"What's your business here?"

* * *

The two men continued their patrol towards the front gate as they did the night before and every night before that; it was their regular rounds and nothing new really seemed to happen. As they rounded the last corner of the hallway their eyes saw the silhouette of a young woman.

Her hair was dark brown-almost black with night time, but the moonlight revealed the truth of its' color- and long, it flowed gracefully as the breeze passed through it which caused it to almost dance under the moonlight.

She had bright golden brown eyes which were surrounded by thick, long eyelashes; her body was slender but well formed as she seemed to already be in adulthood.

Her clothes were the strangest part about her, it almost seemed as though she was hardly wearing anything at all, as she wasn't wearing a Kimono, or a Yukata, but a small amount of clothing wrapped around her tightly, exposing the curves of her body. The clothing stopped halfway down her thigh, and her arms were bare; yet she had excess clothing jutting out from around her collar.

She didn't seem like a threat until their eyes rested on her Katana, which hung protectively sheathed on her left side. It had a gold and black hilt, with a jet black sheath and it was no longer than any other Katana.

'there's no way this little girl is a threat' one of the men thought, rolling his eyes at his partner who unsheathed his sword as a precaution.

* * *

She tilted her head up, noticing both men were dressed in pale blue overcoats, with white symbols on the back, and white designs at the bottom, vaguely remembering that these were the same garments that a group in the 1860's wore.

'What did they call themselves….. Ahhhh yes, the Shinsengumi… If I remember they were a fearless group of samurai, true warriors of their era… but why are these men dressed like them…?' she felt utterly confused.

'I live in a small temple far outside of a village that is hardly populated so why are these men here…' she came to the conclusion that this must be a group of thieves who stumbled upon her temple; that's the only logical explanation

"Why are you dressed like that, and what are you doing within my home?" She realized that her voice hadn't sound nearly as convincing as she hoped it would, but no matter, she had her own ways of getting answers if words didn't prove to be working.

Gripping the hilt of her Akaiittou in her right hand, she didn't kill unnecessarily but she didn't particularly enjoy people who would 'pretend' to be warriors, it was a disgrace to their image, either you're a warrior or you're not, end of story.

"Our clothes? Hah! What about yours? Yours hardly cover anything!" one of the men scoffed at her.

"You're in Shinsengumi territory, Woman" howled the other man as his partner raised his katana threateningly.

'No dice, hey?' She sighed to herself; smelling the blood lust in the air disappointingly as she closed her eyes and unsheathed her Akaiittou. Her eyes opened to focus on the men in front of her and positioned her stance defensively.

The men stared at her with their mouths curved into a snarl as she took her stance.

"Ahhhhh!" the man on the left yelled as he lunged at her, hoping to surprise the young woman and overpower her but he had no such luck. She met his blade with her own and didn't move a muscle in surprise; instead she shifted her weight to the opposite foot, and re-positioned herself more aggressively.

"I don't know what kind of game you're playing here, but I don't take kindly to people ruining the name of the Shinsengumi by pretending to be them, within my own property nonetheless. Now leave and I won't have to kill you" She growled at the men, forcing the man backwards, staggering as he fought to stand upright. She smelled the air surrounding her full of anger and surprise now; but no fear.

The second man ignored her threats and ran towards her, his eyes widened in shock to see her beautiful features curve into a smile and lean forwards, bracing for the impact of his blade he lunged into her with all his weight, pulled his blade back and clashed it into hers again.

"This is getting tiresome…" she sighed, flipping her blade around to face his with the blunt edge; she released her blade from its lock and whacked him on the side of the head with it, knocking him unconscious.

Hearing the padding of footsteps, she turned to see a man with reddish-brown hair, a brown haori and bright emerald green eyes grinning at her, followed closely by a man with dark hair that seemed almost blue in the moonlight, and a black haori; his eyes a similar color to his hair and a white scarf around his neck, he seemed to analyze the scene before him then returned his gaze to her.

"Who are you, and what business do you have with the Shinsengumi?" The indigo haired man questioned Kurisutaru cautiously as if he chose his words in a specific manner, his left hand hovering over the hilt of his katana.

'He is cautious and thinks much about his question before he asks it' she thought to herself as she analyzed the men in front of her.

'He must be an observant person if he's hoping to not only hear what my answer is but read into _how_ I say it as well'

She had to be careful not to express any aggressiveness then; she didn't want to fight at all, she only wanted them to leave her home-if home is where she really is.

"Hajime-kun, you're too soft my friend. Just get a blade, that's the quickest way to get some answers from the little lady" the bright eyed man beside him formed the words slyly. He let a slight grin escape his lips that made her uneasy.

'**As if** these guys think they can kill me… all the same… I have no _reason_ to fight them…'

Noticing that all these men wore a katana at their sides, something tugged at her mind that said something felt off about this whole situation.

'Why are these men here… Why do they act like I'm the intruder…? Am I _not_ at home…?' the last question in her mind left her feeling lost. Another breeze of wind picked up and brushed against her body, causing her skirt to flutter against her thigh. She shivered as the cold made its way to her core.

'And to think, just when I was getting settled into my new home…' she couldn't do much else now but see what these men had to say.

'Maybe it'll give me some insight as to where I've ended up' closing her eyes and sighing quietly, she let her shoulders relax so that maybe she wouldn't give off such an aggressive appearance.

"The… Shinsengumi Headquarters…?" Her voice came out unsteadily and wavered with saying the unfamiliar location.

"I…" she sheathed her Akaiittou and bit her lip nervously, closed her eyes and took another breath of air, as if to ready herself for admitting she was lost

"I… Think I must be mistaken about where I am…" she exhaled that sentence as roughly as if she was admitting defeat.

She had never felt like she needed someone else to help her find her way but at this very moment in time, she knew she needed answers and they would be the most likely ones to give them to her.

The indigo haired man stepped closer to her and removed his left hand from his sword's hilt, eyeing her as she attempted to relax herself, this proved to be difficult since it was so cold and her muscles were tense from shivering, she was after all only wearing a black skirt with a green design along the right side of it and a black collared T-shirt which bore the same design as the skirt, reaching up her right side over her chest and stopping at her shoulder.

She felt them all staring at her as though she was a foreign object – it seemed like she was in a completely different era, and if that was to be true she could hardly blame them…

She watched him move closer until he stood not more than a foot in front of her, his gaze boring into her eyes, as if analyzing every movement made. He stretched his arm towards her, with his palm facing up.

She raised an eyebrow at this as her eyes flickered with recognition and a smile touched her lips; she reached her own hand out, clasped it within his and jerked it up and down – a handshake.

He seemed to have been shocked from this, his eyes widened and shifted from her eyes, to their hands and back to her face, quickly removed his hand from her grasp returning it to its position, facing palm-up.

"Y-Your sword please, we will need to take you into custody since you have trespassed into our headquarters without authority" he quickly composed himself.

"Oh… Oh!" She said lifting the now empty hand to scratch her head and giggling to herself.

'Well it looks like I'm really not at home anymore…' she thought as she removed her sword from her side and brought it to her chest, she hesitated before handing it to him

'What am I thinking?!' she thought, frustrated as she glared at her hands being willing to hand over the sword so easily.

"If everything goes fine and you're not a threat you will be given your katana back. I will guard it myself as such for its safe keeping" His voice was soft as he seemed to notice her hesitation.

Her eyes met his and she felt a warmth flow into her. She hoped he wouldn't lie to her about something like that; he seemed to understand the strong meaning between a warrior and their katana. Okay sure, so maybe he didn't fully understand the bond she shared with hers but that's not something she would just assume anyone would know.

Reluctantly, she handed him the sword where he then placed it along his side and looked her in the eyes again.

"My name is Saito Hajime, and this is Okita Souji. We are Captains of the Shinsengumi, this is the Shinsengumi Headquarters. May I ask your name as well, young lady?" He spoke formally, and was to the point; she didn't mind at all.

It was quite bothersome when someone beat around the bush when you needed information the most. She noticed that the whole time he spoke he carefully waited for any reaction she may have had to his words.

"Kurisutaru" she said softly with a slight bow.

"It is a pleasure Okita Souji, and Saito Hajime of the Shinsengumi" she raised her head from the bow and locked eyes with the emerald eyed man named Souji who was eyeing her suspiciously from head to toe yet still held the mischievous grin on his face.

'Oh! If I'm truly not in my era than my clothes probably look so odd!' she yelled in her head, looking at her own clothes and winced.

'They probably think I'm some poor woman whoring herself from the streets or something' with that thought she chuckled to herself as she watched Okita turn his back to her and start walking away with a grin on his face.

"If you don't mind coming with us," Saito motioned for her to follow them "our commander will need to speak with you about tonight and hopefully come to a conclusion about it"

Any normal person would have been relieved to hear those words but she read the meaning behind them.

"You mean you want your higher-ups to interrogate me and then decide if I'm a threat since a little girl in strange clothing just appeared on your front door and beat up two of your men without getting so much as a scratch?" she said innocently, yet bluntly; earning her a chuckle from the green eyed man in front of her.

Knowing her assumptions were right brought a smile automatically to her lips as she continued to follow behind Okita next to Saito on her right.

"Most people who interpret it in such a manner are usually guilty of something and don't smile afterwards," Saito stated glancing through his hair at her, "but they also fear to be caught, which keeps them from voicing their interpretations on the matter"

She nodded in agreement to his surprise, although it didn't show on his face.

"Well the way I see it 'Most' and 'Usually' are both words that leave room for an exception"

She tilted her head towards the man beside her so she could look at his face to see what reaction her words would provoke, but his face remained unchanged. Her words earned her yet another chuckle from the man in front of her.

"You really _are_ odd" Okita stated amusingly before opening the door to a room ahead. She saw the light was on and a few men were already sitting inside the room waiting.


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Hakuouki or any of the characters within it, only character I own is the main character of this story :) there will be similarities to the show!

* * *

**Chapter Two**

The three men were sitting side by side from the entrance to the room, the first man had long black bangs and a the rest of his hair was tied into a very long ponytail and he had intelligent, deep violet eyes although he sat quietly either watching or keeping his eyes closed as he listened.

The second man had shorter, dark brown hair and very light brown, kind eyes; he was seated in the middle.

The third man sat at the farthest side of the room from where she stood wearing glasses, with dark brown hair falling straight alongside his face loosely.

"Kondou-San, we caught the not-so-sneaky intruder before things could get too out of hand." Okita announced with his still sly voice, walking into the room and taking his seat - more like slumping - onto the ground against the wall.

Saito slid in front of her to take his own seat, leaving her alone in the entrance to look at the men gathered in the room.

"Well done you two! Come and sit, ch-" the man in the center she thought to be Kondou instantly corrected himself as his eyes scanned over her from head to toe, moving back up to meet her gaze

"Well the word child doesn't seem to fit at all, now does it? _Young lady_ will you please, take a seat" he motioned to the spot in front of her.

She bowed deeply and turned to slide the door shut behind her; taking a seat silently and focusing on Saito's unwavering gaze that seemed to be enveloped in analyzing and deciphering the events that had occurred and how to put them into the proper words.

"Commander, it seems she was able to subdue one of our men, and was about to do the same to the second by the time we arrived on the scene"

Saito replayed the situation from what he had seen upon his arrival and interestingly enough they almost seemed to respect her for her achievement against their men.

Okita added a comment or two here or there when Saito left something out – it almost seemed that he left things out that would create a negative image of her, but then Okita would fill in the blanks and leave things up in the air again as to whether or not she was dangerous, reminding her of the 'good cop/bad cop' idea.

"I see" Kondou had been the only one of the three men to talk. The other two just watched and listened to everything that had been said, and watched her reactions to them closely

"It seems you have given us much to discuss this night, young lady. Souji, will you please be her escort to her quarters for the night, I'm relying on you to keep a close watch" had been all Kondou said as he dismissed her for the night.

"Whatever you say, Kondou-san" Okita hoisted himself from where he sat and walked to the door where he turned slightly to face her.

After a silent moment she realized she was staring at him and her heat rose to her cheeks, creating a crimson tinge as she saw a smile touch his lips

"Hey little lady, you comin' or what?" his voice was smooth and as sly as ever.

"U-Uh, Oh! Yes O-Okita-san" she nodded slightly and pushed herself to stand.

'Quit stuttering and get yourself _together_ girl!' she shouted inwardly at herself as she followed him out the door, sliding it shut behind her after bowing slightly again.

Only hearing the sound of their footsteps padding quietly along the wooden floor, she followed Okita through the Headquarters in complete silence.

Once they finally arrived at her room, she walked inside to see a futon on the ground, there was a small wooden desk off to the side, and that was all.

'Hmm… guess it could be worse… could be no desk or futon… could be just hard ground…' she thought positively to herself as she laid down and tried to push the cold chill from her body as well as the negative thoughts from her mind.

'Assuming the worst will only bring more negative upon you…'

"Gotta keep your head high Kurisutaru!" She chimed to herself and grinned, but her grin faded as she continued her thoughts.

'There's nothing I can do now but wait… After all they did take my Akaiittou… there's not much I can do without that' that was a lie, but not at the same time.

She feared what would happen if she didn't have her katana with her in a battle. She made more of an effort to fight with it than without, even if it was useless at that moment and she refused to hurt humans unless it was absolutely necessary for survival.

She sighed to herself, admitting defeat silently

"I'll just have to wait and see what the Shinsengumi have in store for me, I suppose" silently admitting defeat she sighed to herself, causing her to yawn deeply as she mumbled out loud.

"Escape really isn't an option right now… Not when I don't even know how I…" She trailed off as she fell asleep; she hadn't noticed her eyes becoming heavier as she laid there.

* * *

Okita smiled listening to her mumble to herself as she dozed off inside the room, knowing that fighting those two guys must have been tough for a little lady like her, in body weight alone never mind skill. Especially with how much of a fight she put up, and still managed to be thinking calmly enough to use the blunt edge of her blade so she wouldn't kill them.

'That's one tough little girl' he thought as he stared at the sky, connecting stars in a way to create different scenes of imaginary battles around the moon to entertain his thoughts.

* * *

She listened to the birds quietly outside her room and entertained thoughts of home in her head, slowly opening her eyes to view her surroundings. Seeing the dark wood and the emptiness surrounding her, she realized last night was not a dream. She was indeed in a different era and was now in the custody of the Shinsengumi, who would decide her fate with them as either a threat or as a possible ally.

Sighing, she lifted herself into a sitting position and rubbed her eyes to force them open more.

Granted she hadn't ever really interacted with humans more than she needed to; beyond the moments when she needed to go into the village. When she did go into the village she wouldn't show her face, she would simply wear a yukata or kimono and hide herself from the world.

She didn't know if they would consider her an ally or if she knew any ways to try to show them that she didn't mean them any harm.

'I guess I'll just have to keep doing what I've been doing all along then' she thought to herself absently and sighed.

She lifted her arms above her head and clenched her fists, pushing them as far as she could towards the ceiling; she pushed her chest out and upwards, arching her sore back and bending her legs to ease those muscles as well. Her sleep had been tense but it wasn't completely unpleasant.

She had a warm, sweet scent waft in and out of her dreams throughout the night; she wasn't sure if it was real or not, but she welcomed it; assuming it was just the sense of home that these warriors had in these headquarters that comforted her. Just as she was about to get up, a familiar voice rang out through the room

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" A familiar voice rang out through the room just as she was about to get up.

Not noticing the door had opened, she turned to see a man with the emerald eyes smiling at her mischievously from where he sat just outside her room facing the garden with his head tilted in her direction

"Sounded like you did, with the way you _snored _all night" he finished that sentence with a wider grin and a slight chuckle.

"Wha..!? I didn't" she gasped as she blushed deeply, bringing her hands to her cheeks and peering out at him between her fingers, waiting for the heat to leave her face; not realizing that she was now standing in the center of the room.

"No way…! You're lying!" She said as she removed her hands from her face, she pointed a finger at him, her other hand was firm on her hip, leaning forward as if to intimidate him with her index finger alone.

He laughed softly to himself and turned away, looking back out to the garden

"Believe what you want" was all he said as he laughed to himself softly and turned back to look out at the garden, his laughing stopped but she could imagine the grin he more than likely still had on his face.

"Whyyy…. Youuu…." She growled under her breathe, clenching her hands into fists at her sides now.

'Just who did this guy think he was…? Jerk.' she thought coldly as she walked over to where he was sitting outside only to be greeted by another man walking towards her room.

"Have they come to a decision yet?" Said Okita impatiently to the man who only shook his head in response.

"I'm starting to get tired of listening to this one snore and mumble in her sleep." He said laughing some more to himself as he walked away.

"Hey! Wait... Aren't you supposed to be keeping an eye on me?" Kurisutaru called out after him, but he only turned and jerked his head as a motion for her to follow

"Ugh!" she sprinted to catch up with him, her legs needing to move faster in order to catch up with his strides considering he was a full foot taller than her.

She always _was_ made fun of by her parents when they were alive because of how short she was for her age, not that she minded. Her lack of height kept people from noticing her and that was something she enjoyed; slipping past without anyone noticing, and hiding in the shadows from those who would do her harm. She lived to survive, nothing more and nothing less.

They walked into the room from last night; Kurisutaru assumed that this was their meeting room. She noted that there were more men in the room today than last night.

"Ah! Souji!" The commander greeted Okita and smiled widely as he looked at her causing her to give him a genuine smile back; although it was small it was still there.

"Now that we're all here, I should introduce you to the rest of the Captains of the Shinsengumi" Her eyes scanned the room to look at each of the men who now gathered around to decide if she was a threat to them.

There had been the ones she met the night prior; Saito, Okita, Kondou, and the two men who had sat on either side of Kondou but now there were a few new additions in the room. Their eyes stared at her and she fidgeted nervously; hoping she didn't look funny or have mud on her face or something.

'Maybe they're afraid of me' she pushed that thought from her mind, even the youngest and shortest guy in the room was taller than her by at least an inch or two, the rest by around a foot and they were trained warriors who are aware they could die any day.

'Seeing a little girl like me wouldn't intimidate them at all, no matter what they heard' still not having an answer to her question she left it alone.

She first met the gaze of a man with spiky brown hair, blue eyes and a green bandana, he was quite built and seemed to be in more of shock than anything else.

"She's…" she was hoping he wouldn't point out her odd clothing "she's so pretty…" heat rose to her face and Okita laughed.

"I don't hate her myself, she's kind of cute. Careful around this one though, Shinpachi, she's snores and has a temper about it" his eyes turned to her as her face reddened even more.

"W-What? I do not snore, Okita-san! You're so full of lies!" she stated as her hands curled into fists.

"See, what did I tell you, she's got a temper" he laughed again and another man spoke up, he had longer brownish red hair pulled into a ponytail behind his back and gentle, golden eyes that were bright as he looked at her.

"Yeah but still, she's kinda cute when she's angry" he was handsome she had to admit; they all were actually.

Her face became warm again as she felt embarrassed about her thoughts and she pulled her hands which were now clammy with nervousness to her face and covered her cheeks.

"Sano-san, Shinpachi, you two old guys are making her uncomfortable, quit with the womanizing" the younger man on the other side of Shinpachi spoke; he had long brown hair tied in a ponytail, with some of it covering his forehead, and had blue-green eyes.

"Who're you calling 'old guys' _young man" Shinpachi teased as he roughly tousled the top of the young boys head._

"I don't remember you ever having called me an 'old guy'; Shinpachi is a different story though" Shinpachi shot a glare at Sano.

"Sano you bastard, you sellin' me out" the golden eyed man only smiled at his companion in response.

'These guys fight as though they're actually related' she thought amusingly as the man with glasses snapped them back to their senses while Kondou spoke up.

"As you can see young lady, that is Sanosuke Harada, Shinpachi Nagakura, and Toudou Heisuke, they are all Captains of the Shinsengumi, I am Commander Isami Kondou, to my right is 2nd Vice Commander; Keisuke Sannan, and to my left is Vice Commander; Toshizo Hijikata. You have already met Saito Hajime and Okita Souji who are also Captains as well" she nodded as she took in all the names and ranks; trying hard to match the names with faces so that later on she wouldn't find herself in an embarrassing situation.

After the introductions were finished it was her turn to speak, settling herself into her futon, she spoke softly, but confidently.

"My name is Kurisutaru Shinji," after settling herself in, she spoke softly and confidently while introducing herself.

"Please, ask me anything you'd like as I'm sure you all have many questions; I will do my best to answer them as best I can" finishing her sentence she opened her eyes to look at them.

Only Toshizo, Kondou, Sannan, and Saito seemed to be comfortable in her presence; the others stared at her for a while.

'I swear to _god_ if there is one more moment of silence I'm going to freak out' she got impatient as Heisuke scratched at the back of his head.

She looked to Okita who had his eyes closed for a while, suddenly opening them and meeting her gaze she felt warmth rise to her cheeks, causing a smile to faintly touch his lips.

'Right about now I'd do anything for even Okita to speak…' usually she didn't mind silence; even welcomed it more often than not but this was just nerve wrecking.

"Where are you from?"Kondou broke the silence with his first question then Heisuke followed.

"How did you get here" and no sooner as she was about to answer Heisuke was when Shinpachi chimed in with another question.

"What's with the clothes" these were all questions she assumed she would have to answer when she decided to hand over her blade to Saito - who still kept it on him at all times it seemed; she noted that even this morning he had it with him.

She explained to them that she was from about 200 years in the future by the looks of it, but wouldn't go into further detail about that, and she wasn't sure how she got here, just that she woke up thinking she was at home; which greatly resembled the Headquarters, only to find she was in the Shinsengumi territory. She explained that she had grown up fending for herself so swordsmanship wasn't exactly new to her; in fact it was like breathing the air itself and that in itself was partially the reason she was able to defeat both those men.

"How were you _strong_ enough to defeat two men who have been trained for battle though?" Hijikata asked the question she had been dreading to answer.

She took a deep breath and looked each man in the eye. With every second that passed it seemed like they trusted her answer less and less with how tense the air became but she knew that once she explained her strength, they wouldn't ever look at her the same again.

"Something tells me I'm going to regret answering this question but… here goes nothing…" she sighed and began her story.

"I was born only half human, on my mother's side, my father is that of a full blooded demon. I was raised by my parents until they were killed when I was 7 years old, after that I needed to use the skills they taught me at a young age and I learned how to live in this world on my own. I taught myself the ways of a swordsman, and the ins and outs of battle as far as I knew them; the rest was learned from experience"

She continued while watching the men's' reactions to her confession; Toshizo, Kondou, Saito, and Okita, seemed to be indifferent to the fact that she was only partially human. Yet the others gasped, or left their mouths open or just stared at her in shock while she spoke.

"Half breeds, as we are usually referred to, have special abilities, I have yet to uncover all of mine, but so far I've observed that my healing abilities are greater than a humans, yet weaker than that of a demon, I possess a strong spiritual aura that I can use towards my power and, I believe that is all I have for now"

"Unless this time travel is another ability uncovering itself" She lifted her hands in front of her with her palms face-up; as if looking for answers within her own hands.

She let that sink in before starting to speak again this time making eye contact with Saito as she spoke.

"My sword… Akaiittou as it's called, it's quite important to me. It was given to me by my mother as it was forged with and contains my father's demonic essence. His essence fully suppresses mine so that I do not have any… accidents…" she trailed off, breaking the eye contact with Saito and the room got tense.

"I see you do not seem to withstand information from us in regards to what you are, where most would keep that information secretive, why is that?" Hijikata was the first to speak up, he stared straight into her face as if looking for a trace of anything that would condemn her or prove him wrong about her innocence.

"I am telling you the truth because when you build upon lies it only leads to destruction. Whether or not you will condemn me for what I am does not concern me for I cannot control what my blood is made of, I've had to live with being damned all my life for what I am, even though I control it. Why lie when the experience it brings with it isn't real and will only cause pain to yourself and those around you. I'd rather be honest, and lay it all out; creates less confusion and pain in the future." The air relaxed and Saito only nodded but his eyes were bright, with what she wasn't sure.

"Kurisu-chan, please return to your quarters while we speak about everything, we will send for someone to retrieve you later when we've come to a decision" Kondou said politely with a smile gracing his charming face as he nodded.

Surely if she was into older men she would have been attracted to him, he was quite the looker.

On that thought she became flushed and stood quickly, embarrassed that they might have just read the thoughts quite plainly on her face, she walked out of the room, accompanied by the man who had first brought her there; he had a shiny, shaved head and a kind smile – it seemed all the higher ups of the Shinsengumi shared that trait

"Are you hungry?" he asked as they reached her room, she acknowledged his question with a nod and a slight bow

"Well alright then, I will bring you something to eat, please wait in your quarters while I fetch it for you" he bowed slightly and took his leave, heading in the direction in which they came.

'I'm going to need more than a futon and a desk to keep me sane…' She stared at the emptiness before her within the room. She hadn't been one to keep too much in her home but this was extreme; at least in her home she had things to do when she wasn't able to leave for a few days.


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Hakuouki or any of the characters within it, only character I own is the main character of this story :) there will be similarities to the show!

* * *

**Chapter Three**

After what seemed like an hour the man returned with a tray of food consisting of sardines, a bowl of rice and some miso soup. He placed the tray in the center of her room and turned to walk away.

"I really hope things go well for you here" he started with a smile when his eyes met with hers.

"They may not seem like it but the Shinsengumi are very kind hearted men. They have the best of intentions and fight to protect, not to needlessly kill. I sense that you are familiar with this way of living" he ended his sentence warily; he wasn't sure if anything he said offended her and truly didn't mean it if he had.

"Yes, they seem to be quite the group of warriors" she nodded at him in agreement, ignoring what he had mentioned about her.

She never spoke to anyone about herself and it just became a habit now. She didn't trust anyone enough to reveal that information, if they didn't like her to begin with she didn't need their pity in order for them to start, they should just leave her be. The only reason she was willing to release so much information to the captains was because in order for her to get answers she needed to be the one to give answers as well.

She couldn't just hide everything and expect them to trust her or to answer her questions truthfully.

"Even that Souji seems to have taken a liking to you" he had been looking straight into her eyes and as she registered what he said her face flushed slightly.

The man smiled again which caused her cheeks to become a deeper shade of crimson and took his leave after introducing himself as Genzabouro Inoue.

'What is with me lately?' she thought remembering all the times she had become flustered since she arrived here.

'Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad staying here with a bunch of charming, handsome warriors' she thought playfully to herself picturing each one of the captains faces and bodies.

Still, she wondered what the outcome of their decision might be, and if she would have to use force to get out of it or not; considering she didn't want to die in an era that wasn't her own.

"I'd really prefer not to use force…" She muttered out loud with a sigh.

Hearing a chuckle made her jump almost out of her skin since she thought she was left alone when Gen-San left.

"O-Okita-San, What're you….?" Raising her hands to cover her face in embarrassment, she stuttered but managed to get most of her question out while he laughed even harder to himself.

"Oh? You didn't notice I was here? You know you could always try to use force to escape... but… if you do, I'll have to kill ya" he said and flashed a smile her way, but noticed she wasn't watching him.

She was staring at the ground with her hair covering her face and clenching her hands tight enough to make her knuckles white.

"Is that so? Well since you're so adamant on it, why don't you just take your luck at it right now? Get it over with early" She snarled through her teeth, not bothering to look up at him.

Okita suddenly laughed and she snapped.

"What's so funny?! I don't remember telling a joke Okita-san!" She snapped at Okita's sudden spasm of laughter and finally made eye contact with him, noticing he was genuinely smiling made her relax a little.

"You really haven't spent much time around people have you? Guess you'll have to learn from me how to take a joke, lucky lady" he chuckled again, and she watched him wink an eye at her while she still looked confused and threatened.

"But Sano-san was right; you are kind of cute when you're mad, you know" her knuckles tightened and heat fluttered from her stomach, through her chest and up to her cheeks; Okita noticed her flushed skin and laughed again.

"Really? You couldn't tell I was joking?" He whined as she just shook her head.

"Well," he began to explain

"When I said I'll have to kill ya. It doesn't mean I'll kill ya. Sure, when I say it to _some_ people I might mean it" he shrugged

"but when I say it to you Kurisu-chan, I don't mean that I'll actually kill you" he smiled and looked at her with one eye shut

"But if you tell anyone that I confessed that to you –"

"Let me guess, you'll kill me" she finished his sentence for him.

"You got it right _Ku-ri-su_-chan" He pointed a finger in the air and then lowered it to point at her and grinned mischievously.

She rolled her eyes at the emphasis he used for her name and then a faint smile crossed her lips telling Okita she understood as he shifted his gaze back outside.

She slowly made her way over to where he sat on the top stair leading down to the garden and seated herself next to him. As she sat beside him the wind shifted direction and she inhaled the same warm, sweet smell from her dreams the other night.

'Was he sitting outside my room all night long?' she wondered as a wave of warmth make its way up from her fluttering stomach all the way to her face and she struggled to breathe properly.

She had wondered why he made the comment about her snoring but she didn't think he had been there all night. Suddenly she got self-conscious and fiddled with her own fingers as she sat next to him.

"So you learnt how to wield a blade that efficiently all on your own, hey? Pretty impressive if you ask me" his voice broke the long silence that had fallen between them as he glanced at her to his right; her head lowered from gazing at the garden and instead focused on her feet, thinking.

"I did not enjoy fighting when I was young, I was taught generally how to defend myself with a sword but I never took an interest in it. It was too violent for my tastes. My childhood was peaceful until my parents were killed, and until that time came, I had no reason for violence." Her eyes still remained glued to her feet on the steps below and her voice had changed from sad to bitter as her explanation continued

"My parents were fair people, never wanted anything more than a life of peace. They raised me in confinement, away from the rest of the world. I never knew anything different from the quiet, calm life I lived until they died and I was snapped into reality to see the world for what it truly is." With that she closed her eyes and tilted her head back to look at the sky.

She leaned back onto her arms which rested on either side of her now and took a deep breath.

"I was 7 when they came…" her voice started out soft and wavered, this would be the first time she had ever told anyone about her parents, or her childhood in ten years.

Okita sat silently next to her, his face remained unchanged while she spoke.

"There had been a series of murders in the nearby village and a traveler had mentioned seeing a silver haired man with pale violet-almost silver- eyes on the roadside. He told them that the silver haired man was responsible and that he was a fierce demon who didn't have any regard for human life at all"

She lifted her left hand to her chest and then put it back down knowing her fidgeting was only a means of avoiding the rest of the story.

"The villagers decided we were a threat which needed to be eliminated once they found out that it wasn't just my father living in the forest but rather my mother and myself as well. They came at midnight in late fall, they had swords, spears, and many other weapons, sharp or blunt; anything that could do damage was used against us."

"They surrounded the front of my house with oil and set it on fire. My father had refused to kill humans, even being a full demon he would only knock them out or break bones and immobilize them. Then one of the village men had found my mother and I… my human mother who had been with-child died from severe injuries and blood loss, and this drove my father to the brink of madness. He forced me through the back with my Akaiittou and caught their attention in the front of our home. I watched him sacrifice his own life in attempts to satisfy their thirst for bloodshed but…" she trailed off again as tears ran down her face

"The villagers weren't done yet" she shook her head gently.

"They knew there was still a child left of half demon blood. I ran through the woods to the road as fast as my legs could carry me, granted I was a half demon but I was still a child. It didn't take them long to find me once my body got tired."

She could sense the man next to her stiffen as she continued on speaking, she wondered if he had actually been effected by her story at all or if it had just become tense for him not knowing what to do since she was crying.

She didn't exactly understand why she was telling him all this information, she just did. It felt good to tell someone what happened to her since she had never trusted anyone enough to even tell them her name before, she took another breath she continued.

"As I ran down the road that night they caught up to me slowly but surely. I tripped and tore my arms and legs open, and dropped my Akaiittou too. As the villagers caught up I fell unconscious… and when I awoke… They were… Gone…" She breathed the last sentence out painfully, hoping he wouldn't ask for more information

"Gone?" his voice was gentle and all the amusement was gone. Lowering her eyes to his face she realized he was staring at her with a sadness she had never seen before.

"They… They were dead… to be more specific" she waited for his response, watching his eyes widen in the realization of what she meant.

"You killed them all…" he clarified; his eyes narrowed as he gazed at her.

She only nodded in reply to him and dropped her gaze, unable to continue eye contact with man she assumed was now horrified and disgusted with her.

"Well, I don't blame you for killing every single one of those bastards" he finally said causing her breath to catch in her throat as she brought her eyes back to meet his, seeing that they were bright again as if he completely felt justified with what she had done.

"But… but I mutilated… so man-"her voice was cut off mid-sentence by Okita's suddenly threatening and cold voice

"They _murdered_ your parents under false accusations, Kurisutaru. They deserved a fate much worse than _death_." His gaze had moved to the garden again as the atmosphere of tension and sadness lifted slowly.

'Okay so maybe not all humans are bad…' She thought hopefully to herself, turning her attention to the footsteps coming closer to where they were seated, seeing Gen-San making his way to them.

"Kurisu-Chan, Okita-Kun, it seems they've come to a decision" He said as Okita and Kurisutaru stood up, she paused to stretch her body yet again.

'I really shouldn't spend so much time sitting… I'm going to end up getting fat…' then hurried to where the awaiting men were.

Coming to the room where Kondou-San and the others waited she seated herself just in front of the entrance facing Saito, to her left was Okita, and on her right were Toshizo, Sannan, and Kondou himself. Shinpachi, Harada, and Heisuke sitting in the back again.

'these must just be their usual spots' she figured.

"After much thought and consideration, we grant you permission to stay within the Shinsengumi Headquarters so long as you obey our rules and join our ranks" Kondou smiled sweetly to her as she registered what his words meant.

"Y-You mean I can stay!?" she squeaked out excitedly and the men laughed whole-heartedly

"Thank you very much!" she smiled widely at the Commander and bowed her head.

"Please Kurisu-chan; do not hesitate to come to me with any questions or concerns you might have. My door is always open" Kondou said innocently with a smile which was quickly erased when Shinpachi chimed in.

"Commander's already makin' his move, huh?" Harada was next to speak.

"Kondou-san you don't waste time" Kondou-san's face began to flush with every comment made.

"Yeah, Kondou-san you work quickly, don't you my friend?" Okita's body shook with laughter at his own comment after seeing his leader's reaction.

"That is absurd! I respect this young woman as a warrior! Nothing more!" he demanded as they continued laughing

"Argh, I said nothing more!"

"I believe this is yours, Kurisutaru" She glanced to Saito as he held out her Akaiittou in front of him and nodded his head as if to tell her she could take it. Clasping her hands around her beloved sword she held it to her chest and bowed deeply

"Thank you very much for its' safe keeping Saito-san, I truly appreciate it" raising herself from the bow she noticed Saito only nodded in return.

'not much of a talker, huh' she thought to herself

'I'm sure that'll change with time' She fixed the blade again to her side, feeling complete she was able to relax more into the environment.

The sudden clash of blades, a few muffled screams and a crash brought the captains to high alert as someone ran into the room.

"W-Was that… Gunfire?!" she said out loud as Gen-san threw the door open and shouted in a panic.

"Intruders! Three intruders have broken through the main gate!"

With the first word he spoke the captains were on their feet, and by the time he finished his sentence half of them had taken off to organize their troops and meet the intruders.

"Souji, you stay here with Kurisutaru. If we aren't back soon, come back us up" Kondou looked to them both who only nodded in agreement and followed the commander with their eyes as he rushed out with the rest of the captains.

"These three must be crazy to have broken into the Shinsengumi headquarters. Its suicide" he said after a few minutes of hearing the battle continue and smile slightly while thinking about the other captains and how much fun they'd be having.

Seeing sudden movement beside him he turned to see Kurisutaru stand and head for the door.

"Hey, where are you-"

"I'm going to see who these intruders are; they must be strong in order for them not to have been killed already so I'm going to observe. Feel free to join me"

She said as she walked out the door and headed towards the sounds of battle. Okita sighed but quickly followed behind her; they stopped just before the last turn of the building and peered around the corner.


	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Hakuouki or any of the characters within it, only character I own is the main character of this story :) there will be similarities to the show!

* * *

**Chapter Four**

She had felt a strange presence nearby and the smell of blood coated the air while she and Okita sat in the room waiting for the Captains. Okita seemed confident in the abilities of the Commander and the Captains but this presence didn't feel normal; it didn't feel _human._

She had to find out what it was; maybe that could be why she was brought here to this Era. Her thoughts became quiet as they rounded the last corner and watched in hiding as their friends were still battling the intruders.

There was three men spread out among the Captains, one had wavy purple hair tied in a ponytail, he seemed to be aiming a gun at Harada who was dodging the bullets but still not landing a hit with his spear which seemed to frustrate him.

Another man who stood tall over all the others with red hair tied behind his head in a loose ponytail, he seemed to be unarmed but was still able to gain an advantage over these well trained captains.

The last man stood arrogantly in the middle of the two others fighting, he had blonde hair and fiery red eyes; he drew his sword against Hijikata and quickly took an advantage in the fight.

Heisuke was on the ground unconscious by the red haired man, who was now facing Saito and Shinpachi and it was seemingly at a stale-mate between the three.

Harada was becoming increasingly exhausted against the purple haired man because of dodging bullets left and right, while Hijikata was slowly becoming more injured with every swipe of the blonde man's blade, but he too wasn't completely unscathed. He had already sliced the man open twice although there wasn't much blood at all.

She could already tell these men weren't human and oddly enough the Shinsengumi weren't doing too bad of a job holding their own against these intruders; at that thought she felt proud that she was allowed to stay with them and her chest fluttered with something she wasn't quite sure of.

"Stay here" Okita said firmly as he rushed out to help the Vice Commander with the battle.

Drawing his blade, he lunged at the blonde haired man who reacted quick and efficiently, recoiling and thrusting his blade towards the young captain who twisted to avoid the contact, then blocking it with his own as the blonde drew his katana back, regaining his stance.

As Kurisutaru watched she observed three very different fighting styles. The most dangerous being the young blonde man who seemed unable to really put effort into the battle.

'He seems like he's bored and just playing with them' she thought and gasped as he suddenly disappeared, only to reappear behind Okita, striking him down with his blade.

"What?!" Okita gasped as he fell to his knee in pain and all the other captains watched helplessly; caught up with their own opponents they could do nothing to help.

"That's impossible!" he growled as he struggled to keep standing straight.

Glaring at the blonde man who was now locked in battle with Hijikata-san - who had rushed to avert the attention while Okita recomposed himself - he pushed his blade away from his body, raised his leg and thrust Hijikata away with a powerful kick; tossing him onto the ground and his body rolled a few times before the momentum of the kick ended, resulting in cuts and scrapes, tears in his clothing and bruises beginning to form.

"Tell me where you are hiding it! Don't bother lying to us; we can sense its Aura" The young blonde turned to him and took a few strides over towards Okita, raising his blade threateningly.

Kurisutaru gasped and her eyes widened in shock as she watched the scene before her and processed everything she heard.

'Can he… can he sense my presence?!'

It would make sense since she could sense theirs, but they weren't trying to hide themselves where as _she_ on the other hand was, and even though they weren't hiding their Aura, she hardly sensed them.

"What are you talking about, freak?" Harada breathed while trying to regain his composure, his purple haired opponent doing the same.

"Fine, you want to play dumb; go ahead. We will just tear through this place to find it and kill every single person who stands in our way" the blonde lowered his blade slightly to aim it at Okita's neck.

"And I wi-"he had lunged mid strike at Okita with blinding speed but his words were cut short when his blade was struck off course by a powerful blow.

"You will what?" She taunted the young man with her head tilted to the side and a cold and steady voice.

"Be caught off guard by a little girl?" she raised a brow and giggled at the irritated reaction of the blonde man in front of her, regaining his composure.

"How foolish of me to think you needed _my_ protection" Okita said under his breath while watching the young woman in front of him with curiosity.

"Thank me later, we're not out of the woods yet" she said loud enough for the blonde to hear which caused him to smile.

"So you're the one we've been sensing around here. Sure enough, you look as strange as your Aura is" she scoffed.

'Yeah and hopefully you're not as weak as your Aura is' she thought amusingly as a smile reached her lips.

He lowered his gaze at her and lunged forward with a brutal force, knowing if she dodged the blow, her friend would take it for her.

Kurisutaru angled her body in a defensive way, she twisted her right leg back and lowered her body greatly, tilting the tip of her Akaiittou to the ground to put less strain on her hands and using both arms she absorbed the heavy blow of the blonde's attack, he recoiled and struck again from the other side.

She twisted and tilted her swords tip back up, absorbing the blow again as her legs bent to absorb the shock from his strength bearing down on her.

'This is going nowhere' she sighed to herself.

'Maybe a taste of _offensive_ power will push him to retreat…' her thoughts trailed off as a smile touched her lips faintly.

"I'm done playing games" she growled and released the lock she had on her aura-not that it had mattered anyways since these three still sensed her – which caught the attention of the nearby warriors from both sides.

She felt her body surge with power again and the air around her heightened in pressure continuously. The three men felt her Aura rise immeasurably and their eyes became wide as she re-positioned herself aggressively, holding her Akaiittou in front of her.

The blonde re-positioned himself defensively in response and lowered his gaze to her sword, then back to her eyes.

"Kazama Chikage, my name is Kazama Chikage" she paused a second after hearing this before stating her own.

"My name is Kurisutaru, and this" she raised her blade above her head in anticipation.

"This is my Akaiittou…" her Aura heightened even more, it threatened to asphyxiate the captains surrounding her as she focused her energy around her blade.

Kazama braced himself for impact with her sword but his eyes widened when the blow never came, instead he just waited in a partial crouch for whatever she was preparing to do.

"Bushikatagi" with the last word spoken she thrust her blade down sending a rush of energy in the shape of a blade at the blonde man whose eyes were wide in disbelief.

He disappeared from where he stood just in time to dodge the attack and appeared on the wall by the main gate; a fair distance from where she now stood.

"I _won't_ allow you to harm these men" she growled threateningly as she moved at a blindingly fast speed to Saito's side; absorbing the crucial - if not fatal - blow he would have just taken, she felt his fist connected with the left side of her rib cage, sending a loud crack out into the air as her body screamed in pain.

'That would have killed a human...' she hadn't seen a hand to hand combat fighter this strong in her lifetime and she was glad she caught this blow before Saito did; no matter how much it hurt her.

She fell to one knee in front of the surprised red haired man as he recovered and prepared to deal another blow to her, she glared defiantly at him as Saito lunged forward to keep his attention away from her.

She had managed to pull herself off her knee and onto her feet when she was caught off guard by Kazama who took the opportunity to thrust his blade through her mid-section. Turning, Saito swung his blade at Kazama who had already recalled his blade from her body and was retreating.

* * *

She had sensed him just when it was too late; a sharp pain followed by a burning hot sensation. She saw his blade push out from her stomach from where he was behind her.

It felt as if someone had taken a continuous flow of fire and sent it through the core of her body. Just when she thought the pain was unbearable and couldn't get worse, the sharp pain withdrew and the fire became a more intense heat like that of an inferno.

Her right hand clutched her Akaiittou and the other covered the gaping wound through her stomach that poured blood onto the ground.

'Of all the times not to heal quickly…' she cursed her blood for only being that of a half demon when she really needed the healing properties of a full demon.

She turned herself to face Kazama, he was not smiling but she knew he was satisfied by what he had accomplished.

"Consider that a lesson young one, do not turn your back to your opponent, especially not to help a worthless human. They will only use you and betray you; they are not honorable like us Devils."

"Honorable?" her body burned with anger and pain as she scoffed at Kazama.

Blood streamed from the side of her mouth even though she tried to swallow as much of it as possible it burned whenever she breathed, never mind moving any part of her body.

"You know nothing of honor" she ground her teeth together and felt her body pulse; it resonated from her feet to her head and her hands trembled as she gripped her Akaiittou in her hands.

'Oh no, not now. Not here' she clenched the blade between her fingers as she felt her body pulsate again.

She looked towards the captains with panic filling her thoughts; she pictured herself losing control and when she came to seeing the bodies of all these men surrounding her. She imagined being drenched with their blood and her body trembled at the thought. She hadn't realized it but she developed a respect for these men and their bonds with each other.

She wouldn't be the one to destroy that.

'I can't lose control of myself. No. I _won't _lose control of myself'

Moving away from the other captains and towards Kazama, her spiritual aura continued to increase in pressure until the air surrounding her grew to an intense heat. Her clothes began to turn to ash while she walked being replaced by soft silver fur.

The pain she felt was replaced as her bleeding slowed to a stop, instead of pain she now felt a hunger deep within her core that crawled its way up her throat. She hungered for battle, for bloodshed, for pain, for death.

This was different though; usually her transformation would cause her to lose consciousness and destroy everything in sight that had a pulse, not regaining consciousness until she was surrounded with death.

This time she was aware of everything, her whole transformation was a different experience.

She heard every heartbeat, every breath. Every move each person around her made, she was aware of.

She felt the captains surrounding her watch her nervously, their hearts beating faster as they watched her transform; her opponents stayed rather normal but she could feel the tension build within them.

Her forearms down to the back of her hands; her neck down her chest to her stomach and finally, her skirt was replaced by this silver fur which seemed unaffected by the heat of her Aura which seemed to finalize her transformation.

"Prepare yourself, Kazama Chikage" she growled as her once bright brown eyes had turned to a pale violet color.

She thrust herself forward and appeared in front of Kazama, then disappeared again only to appear behind him.

"Extend your mind, do not let your guard down" she whispered behind his ear and his eyes widened, swinging his sword to where she had been behind him.

"Shiranui, Amagiri, we're retreating" He spoke loud and quickly to his companions who nodded, not taking their eyes off of the woman who was now in front of Kazama again.

"Mark my words woman, we will return. Be ready for us when we do" he threatened as he disappeared with the other two.

"What… the hell… was that…" Breathed Shinpachi who was just as exhausted as the others, looking warily at this transformed Kurisutaru in front of them.

"And what _exactly_ are these abilities of yours Kurisu-chan"

She turned when she heard her name being called; realizing that the battle was over and she was exhausted, she hid her Aura as best she could and sheathed her Akaiittou as she walked back to Okita.

The whole time she had been transforming, he had been the only one who had a steady heartbeat.

He had remained in the same spot just watching as she sheathed her sword and began walking towards him. He met her gaze of violet eyes, she blinked and they were back to their light golden brown color, as she moved closer the fur began to fall to the ground.

"_Ku-ri-su-chan, _you're shedding" he chuckled to her.

His laughter disappeared as she collapsed to the ground in front of him, blood beginning to form in a pool around her mid section as she lost consciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Hakuouki or any of the characters within it, only character I own is the main character of this story :) there will be similarities to the show!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

_She felt a hand make its way up her leg from her knee to her thigh causing her to shake all over._

_It was dark in the room except the faint light seeping in from the covered window which only affected a small portion of the room; which also happened to be the portion she was farthest away from._

_She tried to move her hands down to stop the hand on her leg but her hands were bound over her head._

_Panicking she jerked her hands again and again to try to break free but nothing worked. She tried to kick her legs and ended up bruising herself in the meantime, and doing nothing to the owner of the hand._

_The hand made its way from her thigh over her hip, trailing along her side and pulling her shirt up slightly with it, she turned her body to lay on the hand with all her weight to keep it from moving._

_"Stop making this so difficult" a deep voice above her growled in command and forced her body to stiffen in fear._

_Tears began streaming down her face._

_"Stop" Tears glazed her eyes and began streaming down her face as she spoke softly._

_"I said, stop!" she said louder and more commanding as another hand began roaming along her skin, both hands made their way back to her thighs, prying them open through sheer force against her best efforts_

_"I SAID STOP" she screamed but nothing changed._

_"STOP" she screamed again hoping that maybe it would suddenly stop._

_"_Kurisu-chan!"

_"PLEASE! JUST STOP" she sobbed and choked out the words, trying to force her mind to another place._

"Ku-ri-su-chan!" a familiar voice resounded through her dream, forcing it to fade into a dull grey state as she began to regain consciousness again.

"Please wake up Kurisu-chan, you're having a nightmare" She gasped as she bolted upright, her forehead colliding with Okita's who recoiled in pain; holding his palm to his head

"Damn _Ku-ri-su-chan_, don't need to punish me, I wasn't the one torturing you" rubbing her own forehead she mumbled an apology without looking at him.

"But I'd like to know who _was_ doing the torturing, Kurisu-chan" She inhaled his sweet scent and looked up to see his face only inches from hers causing her to hold her breath.

She saw his emerald green eyes flicker with anger when he spoke; he lifted his hand to her face, using his thumb he gently wiped away the tears left on her face.

"Why" she breathed, finally releasing the breath she had held.

"So I can _kill_ him" Okita let a grim smile appear as he lowered his hand from her face; he leaned forward and slid his arms around her small frame, tucking her head into the crook of his neck.

She hadn't had anyone hug her since she was a small child, it was so foreign to her but his warmth was so welcoming. She felt it begin to replace the chill in her bones and without her realizing it she had instinctively responded to him by wrapping her arms around his waist and tightening her hold on him.

"Okita…" she spoke softly, closing her eyes; she didn't want to lose this warmth inside of her so quickly just because she decided to speak.

To her surprise he still held her there in his arms with his head resting on top of hers comfortably.

"Hmmm?" he breathed against her hair and she tightened her grip on him in an attempt to bury her head deeper into his chest as more tears fell uncontrollably.

"Thank you…" was all she could say as she fell asleep again.

* * *

Kurisutaru awakened to find herself laying on her futon again, glancing over to the corner of the room she spots Okita sitting with his eyes closed.

'Has he been here this whole time? Just how long has it exactly been'

She pushed herself to a sitting position and stretched her muscles again, judging from their stiffness she would guess a couple days had passed since she fought Kazama.

"Good evening _Ku-ri-su-chan, _did you sleep well?" Okita's sly, yet still sleepy voice pulled her from her thoughts as he opened one eye and smiled warmly at her.

"I would have slept better if someone didn't _snore_ the whole time" she replied to him with a grin; remembering the first time she came here that he had said the very same thing to her.

"Did _someone_ just make a joke?" he laughed at her response.

"Keep talking back like _that_, woman and I _really will_ kill you" he raised a brow and continued laughing through his empty threats.

She felt a smile touch her lips but it quickly faded as Okita began coughing violently, holding a hand up to her, signalling for her to keep her distance he recomposed himself and pulled out a piece of cloth to wipe blood from his hand, tucking it away quickly so she wouldn't notice.

But it was too late for that; little did Okita know that her sense of smell was as good as that of a dog. She smelled the blood the moment he coughed into his hand, and her smile quickly faded.

She dropped her gaze and stared off towards the wall, not sure what to say since he seemed to not want her help; she was sure he probably didn't want to talk about it.

"How long have I been sleeping for" she finally asked after a few moments of silence once his coughing fit ended in order to change the subject.

"About a week, your wounds would have been fatal to a human. You're lucky you're only half human" He had made his way back to her futon while she processed what he had said.

"A week, hey" she repeated him mindlessly and she shifted to stare at her legs, noticing that her clothing was different.

She was now dressed in a plain white yukata rather than her regular clothes which reminded her that her regular clothes had burnt away from the intensity of her Aura.

_"Ku-ri-su-chan" he chuckled at her as she made her way to him "you're shedding" his chuckle shifted into laughter as the silver fur made its way to the ground slowly. His face changed to resemble that of worry once everything went black and unconsciousness took her._

__The image flashed through her head quickly as she put together all the pieces of what had occurred. From the fur to the shedding to her falling unconscious while shedding which meant she was..

"Wait a second! Okita! How am I dressed!?" she panicked as a mischievous smile danced across his features as he sat down, shrugging.

"Nothing I haven't seen before _Ku-ri-su-chan,_ don't you worry" he spoke playfully and chuckled to himself as he watched her face flush a deep crimson behind the hands she used to try to hide her embarrassment.

"O-Okita!" she squeaked causing him to laugh even harder.

"I didn't look, so you can calm yourself, Kurisu-chan" he lifted his hand onto the top of her head and patted her head gently before pulling it back to his mouth as another attack hit him; causing him to double over and wince in pain.

Her brows pulled into a frown and she placed her hand on his back, letting the other instinctively find its way to his shoulder and sat there; there was nothing else she could do for him right now.

* * *

'I wish there was some way to help him' was the frustrating thought that plagued her mind for days after she first witnessed his cough attack.

She was bed ridden for days but not willingly; she had insisted that she was well enough to move around but the Captains all ordered her to stay in bed. Her body was restless and stiff but she was forced to ignore it and her thoughts wandered throughout the day.

In the mornings, Gen-san would bring her breakfast in to her quarters, where he would sit and talk with her about the events of the day; he would inform her who was on patrol that day/night, news within the city, new things that the Shinsengumi would look forward to or didn't want to happen.

Once she was done eating he would take her tray, and leave for his other duties; he wouldn't be back until lunch where he would repeat the same procedure and then again at dinner.

Okita had refused to leave her room, he would sit in silence as she slept and when she awoke he would either just watch her or talk to her about anything she might want to know or he would ask her questions about her own life; being careful not to remind her of anything painful.

The first day he told her that they had added another member to their ranks, his name was Itou Kashitarou.

According to what she heard from Okita, he was a skilled swordsman who the captains were hesitant to trust, except Heisuke who had trained under him, and Kondou, who respected him as a fellow swordsman and gave everyone the benefit of the doubt.

He told her that Itou had a way with words that was much like that of Saito or Sannan's but there was something about the guy that just didn't sit well with him.

Okita had left her room only to help cook meals, to go out on patrol duty, to welcome Itou-sensei and for a few meetings the Captains had been called to. Other than that he was never far away, and when he did leave he called for Saito or Heisuke to watch over her room; he never asked for many favors from the others but when he did it was either really important or for mischievous purposes.

It seemed on nights that he had to go on night patrol, her sleep was plagued with dreams; nightmares that were so vivid that she could smell her own fear in the air itself which seemed thick and threatened to suffocate her.

* * *

_'Those hands'_

_Panic began to build within her as she felt the familiar cold touch of someone invading her personal space, their hands trailing up her legs, along her sides and then back down again._

_Her body being bound tightly, keeping her from escaping, all she could do was cry out begging for him to stop but her pleas would fall upon deaf ears._

_As she began shouting for help those cold hands pried her legs open and lifted her clothing._

_'No this can't happen. This _won't_ happen!'_

She sat upright from where she slept every night, and every night that Okita was absent she would awaken like this; plagued by the same nightmare over and over again.

'What does this mean? Why can't I shake this feeling?' she would think to herself and then fall back asleep, but this time was different; she couldn't find herself wanting to fall asleep again.

Frustrated with herself, she fixed her yukata and grabbed her Akaiittou; she slid her door open and crept outside.

Kurisutaru hadn't really left the Headquarters before, but she could smell the scent of fresh water so she decided to follow it.

After walking what seemed to be about 15 minutes she found herself standing at the foot of a small lake.

"Perfect" she breathed and closed her eyes.

The air wasn't too cold yet considering it was still only the middle of fall, and this was a warmer night than most; she unlocked her Aura and let it pour into her body, taking a deep breath and emphasizing the rise and fall of her chest she relaxed her shoulder and back muscles.

She began focusing her Aura at the bottom of her feet which allowed her to walk onto the lake without falling into the water – this would make her training more difficult – she would need to keep her focus on two separate areas; this would help increase her awareness during battle.

Using her Aura she channeled it through the water to create a current, pushing the water up in front of her like a pole, unsheathing her Akaiittou she sliced twice through the water, both slices were perfectly paralleled to each other.

Angling from the top left to the bottom right, then she would continued the current, and slice from the top right to the bottom left, creating two slices that way as well.

Kurisutaru exhaled as she shot water up from the lake in a burst of her Aura and she began to slice one way, slice the next way making water dance around her and the bottom of her yukata got wet, spinning her Akaiittou above her head caused the water surrounding her to form a circular shape around her body.

It looked like she had been inside of a orb made of water as she spun her blade overhead; she then caught her blade gracefully and sliced down in front of her, sending a rift of energy slicing through the water bubble.

The bubble disappeared and she used her Aura again to thrust portions of water into the air, as they plummeted to the lake again she would spin one way and another and gracefully slice through each one; she noticed one to her right hit the lake's surface and sighed frustratingly at herself.

'I need to do _better_'

As she continued her training exercise, she noticed a presence not far off and recognized it as Saito's but she didn't feel like stopping just because she was being watched; she actually had come to trust some of these Shinsengumi strangely enough so she left him to watch her train.

Her movements suddenly came to a halt as she locked her Aura up again in a panic, sensing another presence around her. She twirled as she fell into the water with her sword drawn in the middle of the lake.

As she began to swim to shore a figure came out from the clearing in the side of the forest, he was dressed in a white haori and had jet black hair, and somewhat of a feminine face.

'So this is Itou-sensei' she thought back to the description Okita had given to her as she crawled out of the lake.

"My, my, what is someone like you, doing all the way out here?" his voice sounded concerned but Kurisutaru felt a coldness within him that she couldn't trust.

His hand gestures acted as concerned as his voice but his eyes deceived them; all she saw was darkness within his eyes. Sticking to her instinct she kept things short and formal.

"Itou-sensei, I presume; my sincerest apologies if I awoke you, I came here to cool off and train a bit but I guess I got a little carried away. I shall go back to Headquarters now" she gave a quick bow, realizing that even if she tried to hide it there was no way he wouldn't notice she was a girl.

Her clothes were stuck to her skin, revealing the curves of her body as if she wasn't wearing anything at all, and her hair wasn't in a ponytail but rather hung down from her head completely soaked.

'Of all the times to run into untrustworthy people, it had to be while I trained over a lake' she thought angrily at herself.

"Oh heavens! Young lady, _you_ are a member of the Shinsengumi?" His eyes widened in shock before recomposing himself but his reaction already sparked anger within her.

"Can _women_ not be warriors as well? Are we not _capable_ of having warrior spirits such as men do or being as strong? Or having something or someone to fight for and protect?" her words came out like ice; blunt ice at that.

"Oh no that's not what I was saying my dear, I was more or less shocked that such a beautiful woman such as yourself would associate yourself with barbaric men like the Shinsengumi" He took a step towards her and she mirrored his motions; taking one step backwards.

She could smell his intentions but his next question sent fear throughout her whole body.

"I guess that makes me your leader then?" He said thoughtfully, and she knew what he was getting at; he was her superior so if he asked her to do something she felt obligated to do it

"Yes, sir" she growled suspiciously to the man as she bowed, glaring at the smile that faintly graced his features

"May your leader ask a favor of you, my lady?" Itou took a few steps closer to her, quickly closing the distance between them and Kurisutaru lost her balance while retreating backwards; she stumbled and fell to the ground with her eyes clenched shut, bracing for the impact of the ground but it never came.

She felt a strong arm wrapped around her waist, keeping her hovered just above the ground.

"Kurisutaru, you have broken rules by coming out here alone to train, Okita is aware of your absence and is awaiting your return with your punishment" she lifted her eyes to see Saito's face, his eyes never leaving Itou's gaze.

"Kurisutaru" he snapped her out her daze by looking down at her and calling her name again.

"Y-Yes sir" she replied as he helped her find her footing and steady herself, while returning his gaze to Itou-sensei.

"T-Thank you Saito-san" she breathed softly when she turned to leave; he only nodded in reply.

She began to run back, hearing Saito exchange words with Itou in a tense atmosphere as she left.


	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Hakuouki or any of the characters within it, only character I own is the main character of this story :) there will be similarities to the show!

* * *

**Chapter 6**

"O-Okita-san" she whispered through his door as her yukata dripped cold water onto her feet.

"Okita-san" she waited a few moments and heard an odd sound of glass before whispering a bit louder.

"O-Okita-san, I'm coming in" something in her didn't feel right so she slid the door open, only to find Okita about to drink from a vial.

His face was twisted painfully and he looked to be fighting back another coughing fit.

"Okita, NO!" she jumped forward, smacking the vial out of his hands as he looked at her wide eyed and angry as the vial's contents now poured onto his floor.

"What are you _doing_ Kurisutaru!?" he grabbed some cloth to clean up the small mess in front of his futon.

"Why are you here?" his voice wasn't annoyed or relieved but she could tell he was about to do something he could have regretted.

He watched as she moved to pick up the vial; it had a pungent smell to it, it reminded her of the scent of a battlefield after two weeks of rotting.

She ignored telling him about Itou-sensei just yet, she couldn't get that vial out of her head.

"I… I don't know what you were going to do, but whatever it was… if your face was in that much pain just thinking about taking it I can't imagine how you would feel after…" her voice wavered as she fought back the tears that threatened to pour from her glazed eyes as she stared at the wooden floor while he stayed silent.

"I'm sorry but there must be a better way to heal you" her words caught him off guard and he turned to her and stared at her head which was facing the ground.

"How do you know it was going to heal me?" he eyed her suspiciously as she fidgeted with her hands in her lap.

"Why else would you be drinking a vial of something that would bring you pain?" he could only stare as she wrapped her hands around her own waist; hugging herself tightly as she spoke.

"I'll find another way" she spoke softly as tears ran down her face and his brows furrowed at the sight of her tears.

"We will find another way to heal you, Okita-san" her breath hitched between words as she choked them out.

"_Ku-ri-su-chan, _if you shed another tear because of me, I'll kill ya" his voice wasn't filled with amusement like usual, it was sad and gentle.

She heard a shuffle of clothing and opened her eyes slowly, lifting them to see him walk slowly towards her; stopping to sit right in front of her, slumping down into his usual sitting position.

He reached out and wrapped his hand around her arm and gently pulled her to him, disregarding her half wet clothing he wrapped one arm around her right shoulder with his hand resting on her back and the other around her left shoulder, hooking around to have his hand rest protectively on top of her head.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and let his warmth thaw her chilled bones from inside out and inhaled his sweet scent; they stayed like that for a while until Okita's eyes grew heavy.

"Kurisu-chan, we need to get you into some dry clothes…" he spoke loud enough that she should have been able to hear but she had already fallen asleep.

Okita sat there for what felt like an hour, listening to the soft breathing of the small woman in his arms; leaning against his chest he could feel her warm breath cascade over his bare skin and sink beneath his brown haori. His heart would skip a beat when her head and shoulders shifted comfortably, snuggling herself as much as possible into him.

He closed his eyes and breathed steadily while mindlessly running his fingers through her soft dark brown hair-finally almost completely dry-, which was long enough that it lay on the ground from their sitting position.

The sudden sound of gunfire and shouting snapped Okita from his peaceful state of mind and threw it into battle mode.

"Kurisu-chan" he shook her shoulders in attempts to wake her from her state of unconsciousness.

"Kurisu-chan!" he said hurriedly as the sound of blades crashing against each other and men shouting in pain became louder; signalling that the intruders were yet again coming closer to the base itself.

She woke up to Okita shaking her shoulders roughly and pushed herself upright.

"W-What's going on?" she mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes she stood up in a panic.

"Blood!" she shouted as the scent infested her senses.

"S-So much… Blood!" she grabbed her Akaiittou and ran for the door, feeling a warm gentle hand grasp her arm firmly she turned to glance at Okita; his face was serious and guarded.

"Kurisu-chan… _please_ be careful out there…" she could only nod at him but paused before she completely exited the room.

"Same goes for you.. Okita-san" and with that she sprinted towards the smell of blood; which was now so strong she felt sick.

'I just hope I'm not too late' she turned the last corner and laid her eyes on the site of the battle.

"Party's over boys" she growled as her eyes fell upon Kazama; his gaze met hers making her whole body shiver.

'I never reacted like that when looking at him before… this isn't good' she unsheathed Akaiittou and released her Aura; allowing it to flow freely within her and turned her eyes into a pale violet color.

"I see that our real opponent has finally made her appearance. Are you finally going to stop hiding behind the dogs of the Bakufu and actually fight?" his words were meant to taunt her and they did their job well; her blood boiled at the sight of this man.

'Maybe if he wasn't such an asshole he might actually be attractive' the words in her head spat acid while she glared at the blond man in front of her

"The sharpest talker usually _is _the bigger coward" she chuckled as she walked nonchalantly towards the three men who once again invaded the Shinsengumi headquarters because of her.

'I'm definitely going to have to help with repairs this time' she thought to herself while inspecting the damage; suddenly throwing herself backwards, flipping herself upside down landing on one hand and then pushing herself to flip again onto her feet in one graceful movement and she raised a brow at Kazama.

"Anxious, are we?" she chuckled at the blond as he lowered his gaze to her blade which was now only held with one hand.

"You lowered your defenses by releasing your left hand from your sword" he started to analyze her out loud but she only laughed at him.

"You speak as if you know anything about my power; or about my skills and strengths" his eyes widened as she smiled, tilting her head innocently.

"I won't be angry if you decide to leave with your companions" she said to him, while glancing to both Amagiri and Shiranui who were eyeing the blond warily; as if wondering whether or not he would take her offer.

"But if you do not stop attacking these men I will be under obligation to use full force against the three of you… I rather dislike fighting and avoid it when I can but as foolish as you are to seek out a pointless battle; I will not sit idly by while my friends are being attacked by those who consider themselves to have a higher purpose just because of the blood pumping through their veins."

The words left her mouth fluidly as she justified her cause of battle to the three intruders and the surrounding Shinsengumi; her voice became like acid as she continued.

"Whatever the battle is about Kazama, wherever it happens to take place, and who the battle is between… Blood is all the same when it's spilled on the ground. I'll have you learn that lesson well by the time we're finished here" she growled and her eyes shone bright with the resolve of someone ready to die for those who would do the same for her.

"Why do you fight for these pathetic humans" his eyes shone bright as he voiced his curiosity, tilting his head while he waited for a reply.

"I fight to protect them because I know they would do just the same if they were in my position" her words came out gentle as she glanced at the fallen men around her; members of the Shinsengumi who she knew had only fought to protect the Headquarters.

As if he read her thoughts plainly on her face Kazama laughed.

"They only fought because we attacked them, not because you reside here, woman. Do not fool yourself into thinking that these men are honorable and deserve your strength" his voice wasn't cold like usual, instead it was quiet and almost apologetic; as if he felt sorry for her that she was such a fool to trust these men under false presumptions.

"No, they don't all fight to protect me" she stated blatantly, causing Kazama to eye her with another hint of curiosity again.

"I don't expect them to die for me just because I am a woman, or because I am strong; they hardly even know me at all. I could not ask such a burden to be placed on their shoulders" she heard a chuckle behind her, turning to see all the captains form a line beside her.

Harada stood in front of Shiranui, Hijikata stood in front of Amagiri, and Okita walked to stand beside Kurisutaru while grinning. Under Toshizo's orders, Heisuke and Shinpachi started pulling the injured to their feet or transporting them away from the front lines as quickly as they could since they were eager for battle.

"That was pretty cool Kurisu-chan" Harada smiled, his eyes meeting hers and then locking back onto Shiranui again

"But we're not about to let you fight alone" he lunged forward; Shiranui twisted and the spear barely missed his neck by an inch.

"You break into the Shinsengumi Headquarters for a second time, I can't overlook such foolishness" Hijikata growled at Amagiri, avoiding a punch that would have laid him up in recovery for a month.

"A couple Devils or so ain't that much of a problem for us _Ku-ri-su-chan_, just let us handle it" Okita's smile widened as he drew his katana from its sheath

"I refuse to let this bastard harm you again, and a blade is always the best way to shut arrogant bastards like him up" Okita lunged forward, only catching Kazama's clothing with his katana, the blond eyed his clothing and pushed towards Okita, unsheathing his blade and swinging it strongly upwards while Okita dodged it and pulled his blade back just in time.

"Is that really the extent of your skill, swordsman?" Kazama taunted Okita and was met head on with his blade, clashing together as their swords screamed in excitement from battle.

"Shut u-"Okita was cut off by a bullet flying past his head.

Noticing the distraction Kazama thrust his blade forward, resulting in Okita's blade being broken in half and Kazama's katana sliced a long wound through his chest in a downward direction. His eyes widened as crimson liquid poured from his chest, grabbing at it and falling to his knees he held himself up with one arm and glared at Kazama, who was now grinning.

"Always keep your focus sharp on your enemy, worthless dog" he spat as he walked over to Okita but froze after one step.

"Don't."

He heard a viciously threatening growl followed by an exponential increase in spiritual Aura. His instincts went haywire, every fiber of his being told him to turn tail and run.

His muscles wouldn't advance closer to his fallen opponent as if they had been commanded by he himself to cease moving.

His eyes were wide with astonishment as the young woman disappeared from where she stood and reappeared behind Amagiri, who had only just noticed her burning hot Aura behind him as her blade sliced downwards from his left shoulder all the way down to his right side; she disappeared again and reappeared between Kazama and Okita.

He glared into her violet eyes as her fur re-emerged and her clothes burnt away, as if responding to the power that pulsated through her body, her hair whipped around wildly against the breeze and her limbs tensed in anticipation of attacking the man in front of her.

Every pulse her body made caused her Aura to grow stronger and thicker, Kazama was almost having trouble breathing just standing a few feet away from her; but he couldn't move because his body wouldn't respond to him.

"I am going" her voice came out as a growl you would hear from an animal before destroying their prey.

"To tear your body apart…" a sudden surge of Aura and she was gone from his sight; relying solely on instinct his body raised his sword in front of him as quick as he could, meeting his blade with hers as she whispered something quietly beneath her breath.

His eyes widened as he heard the familiar words, he used his abilities to teleport him out of the way of a huge wave of energy that crashed past him and left three long craters in the ground, originating from where her blade was.

Before he could think she was behind him, she didn't make a sound as she thrust her hand through his stomach; identical to the place he had run her through with his blade weeks before.

She withdrew her hand from his body and kicked him backwards, thrusting herself into a back flip away from him.

She landed on her feet and blood dripped off her hand onto the ground, Shiranui had stopped fighting and just stared at his companion who was on his knees with wide eyes.

"Are you of pure blood, Devil?" Amagiri cautiously looked to the young woman and back to his fallen companion.

"...'Devil'?" She tilted her head towards the man in confusion, her voice was still thick with anger and vengeance but she would respect him enough to answer his question.

Even though she did not know what a devil was she had heard the term referred to a few times now, so this peaked her interest.

"Yes" he breathed heavily as Hijikata recoiled from his relentless attacks; it seemed that Kurisutaru had given him the advantage he needed by injuring the tall red haired man.

"When you have a demonic bloodline running through you, you are titled a 'Devil'." Shiranui and Kazama were surprised since her face looked genuinely confused now, whereas Amagiri only waited calmly with his face patiently waiting for an answer.

She took a deep breath; never dropping her gaze from the three intruders.

"I have never heard of this term 'Devil' to title my kind. I've always been known as Kurisutaru, daughter of a human woman named Kukiko Rena, and a full blooded demon, known by the name of Ryuzo Shinji" the three devils eyes widened in horror at the sound of the her father's name.

Kazama was the first to speak as he looked at her with disbelief.

"Your father… is Ryuzo Shinji…?" his voice wavered as he spoke.

"_THE _Ryuzo Shinji?" he clarified by repeating his question, swallowing hard as she nodded in agreement.

"You knew my father?"she questioned why he was acting so unlike himself but never let her guard down, knowing that they could just be waiting for an opportunity to strike her down.

"It seems, we have uncovered quite an unexpected fact about you, Kurisutaru-dono" Amagiri now looked towards his companions.

"Kazama, I believe it is about time we retreated" he spoke firmly, he wasn't asking.

"Just because she's the half blood daughter of a renowned demon lord of the west means nothing, for all we know she could be lying. He's never had children!" Kazama retorted stubbornly.

"Why should we believe what she says?" Kazama tried to make sense of it but Amagiri only shook his head and looked towards Kurisutaru.

"We _will _be taking our leave, my lady" his tone now voiced respect and formality, she was taken aback by the sudden change in behavior and concluded that her father must have been quite the demon in his time.

"You should listen to your companion, Kazama" she warned as he struggled to his feet; his wound had ceased bleeding but it had taken its toll on him.

"One more move from me and your life _will_ meet its end" her voice came out like acid

"Such a pity, for one to die at such a young age" she felt bad for taunting him relentlessly but something about the fierce red eyes of this blond 'Devil' made her blood boil beneath her skin.

"Amagiri, I'm n-"Kazama was interrupted by Amagiri appearing in front of him.

"We are leaving, _now_" he grabbed Kazama by the arm and jumped to the wall behind them, nodding to Kurisutaru and then disappearing completely behind the wall.

"Keep that neck of yours clean, Harada; until next time, human" Shiranui looked to Harada and grinned; jumping up to the wall he disappeared after his companions.

"Souji!" She ran to Okita's side as he collapsed to the ground, a pool of crimson gathered around his body; his face was pale and his breathing slowed as he fell unconscious.

Tears flowed down her face as she turned him onto his back.

"Help me!" she yelled to the other captains as they rushed to his side, putting pressure to his wounds and carrying him indoors to be taken care of.

'This is going to be a long night' she thought as she followed closely behind to where they were going to work on his wounds.

After finally managing to get the bleeding to stop, they wrapped his chest and let him recover.

All she could smell was Okita's blood; it smelled sweet and coated her senses with a nervousness that overwhelmed her at first, she hadn't been sure whether it was the blood itself mixed with her darker half's instincts or the fact that the blood belonged to someone she cared about that made her nervous but she refused to let it get to her, she needed to stay focused for his sake.


	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Hakuouki or any of the characters within it, only character I own is the main character of this story :) there will be similarities to the show!

* * *

**Chapter 7**

The first night was the hardest; she stayed by his side throughout the night, relieved every time she saw or heard his chest swell or deflate with air, knowing that it meant he was still alive.

She stayed there, next to the sleeping Okita day and night; other captains would bring her food but she didn't have much of an appetite.

For hours she would sit in silence, listening to the sound of him breathing, hearing his heart beat within his chest; dreading the possibility that at any moment it could stop.

Two days passed and she found herself slumped next to his still sleeping body which now hardly gave off any heat, her eyes weighed heavily as she blinked; fighting to stay open.

She was afraid that if she fell asleep, she might awaken to Okita not being there anymore.

Grasping his hand within her small and fragile ones, she cried silently as she finally succumbed to unconsciousness.

* * *

_She blinked her eyes open slowly, they still felt heavy and sensitive from sleep; frowning as she looked to the sleeping man beside her, she realized his hand was still firmly clasped within her own._

_'I must be dreaming' she thought as the rest of the room seemed foggy and still dark around them._

_She pulled herself over the young captain and sadly looked at his face, letting her hair fall into place on either side of his head; his features were still pale but they were no worse than the day before._

_"Oh Souji…." She whispered softly as she lifted her hand to move a few unruly strands of hair from his peaceful face._

_"If you hadn't been trying to protect me, you wouldn't be in this mess…" she found herself hovering only inches above his face._

_She had never realized just how handsome this man truly was; he had long eyelashes and soft skin as if to compliment the silkiness of his reddish-brown hair, his body was masculine and toned, and through his bandages she could still see his muscles._

_It was a wonder she hadn't noticed it before, but he was always so observant she had never allowed herself to really take a good look at the man for fear he might react negatively to her._

_Her breath cascaded over his face as she brought her hands up, sliding her slender fingers around his neck, cupping his jaw line with her thumbs; her lips brushed against his own, sending a pulse of shivers down her spine and her stomach tumbled over itself as she inhaled his sweet scent; at this distance from him it was intoxicating._

_"I'm so sorry, Souji" she breathed; barely as a whisper and closed her eyes while lowering her lips to meet with his softly as tears ran down her face._

_'This was the last thing I ever wanted to happen; I never meant to be the reason you ever got hurt' was all she thought as she held her position, arched over the sleeping man with her lips pressed against his gently._

* * *

She felt his lips move slightly as she parted them a bit, pulling her head back she opened her eyes and realized he was awake and looking right at her; his eyes seemed to be bright as ever as his lips pulled back into a grin.

"O-Okita-san!" she squeaked.

"Y-You're…. You're _awake?_" her eyes widened in shock as she pulled her hands to her face as she flushed a deep crimson in embarrassment.

'I wasn't _dreaming?!_' she felt flustered as she pulled herself into a deep bow beside Okita; who looked quite amused by the whole situation.

"I-I'm sorry Okita-san!" she choked out an apology as her face became an even darker shade of red.

"I mean, if I had known it took a little cut to my chest to get you to like me _Ku-ri-su-chan_, I would have done it sooner" he chuckled to himself as her eyes widened.

"No it's n-" she attempted to argue but he lifted himself into a sitting position in front of her; he was about to stretch when she pinned him back down to the ground with both arms and her eyes wide.

"What are you _doing_, Okita-san!" she scolded him with a worried tone in her voice.

"You're going to reopen your wounds! You hardly escaped death itself! It's only been a couple d-"she almost finished her sentence before realizing that he was grinning mischievously again and her voice cut off.

"U-Uh… O-Okita…san….?" She blinked confusingly at him as his grin disappeared and his hands found their way to her neck.

His right hand stopped just behind her ear and the other held the right side of her own face tenderly, he brought his own face to meet hers, stopping just before their lips were touching he watched her react to him, he saw her cheeks flush a dark crimson and her eyes widened in surprise; grinning again he closed the distance between them and tilted his head slightly as he moved his lips with hers.

She heard him growl in his throat and to her surprise he ran his tongue along her bottom lip causing her to gasp as her breath caught in her chest; her stomach fluttered and he took advantage of her parted lips to venture her mouth with his tongue.

She felt his tongue slip in her mouth and met it with her own as she fought to keep herself from becoming too involved in such an intimate action, her body seemed to want to melt into him and she seemed to be losing the battle since her body was already weighing heavily against his. She realized she was leaning on his chest and instantly broke the contact.

"Okita-san! I'm sorry! I was lying against your chest! You should have mentioned if you were in pain I-"she was interrupted by Okita laughing.

"What's so funny?" she asked innocently as he regained his composure and sat up.

"_Ku-ri-su-chan _my wounds are fine… I'm not hurt at all" as proof of that statement he patted his chest roughly.

"See" he grinned as he looked at her.

"I don't know how it happened but I guess I gotta be thankful" he laughed softly as he watched her.

She reached out with her slender fingers and gingerly touched where the deep wound had been no more than a few hours prior only to feel his completely healed chest beneath the bandages.

When she had fallen asleep his breathing was labored never mind being fully awake, sitting up and enduring a kiss like that.

"Besides you're a little lady you know, you weigh hardly anything so even if I _was_ wounded it wouldn't have hurt much at all"

The thought of it made her flush yet again which didn't go unnoticed by the young man in front of her.

"Kurisu-chan, did you heal my wounds?" he spoke softly and his eyes didn't leave her face as she thought about how she could have possibly done that and when she could have had the time to heal such a wound.

"I… I'm not sure..." she finally spoke.

"I didn't do anything out of the ordinary… I mean I've been here since you were brought in from outside" she brought her hands to her chest and clutched them together and her voice trailed off as she finished the last word as she thought long and hard about how he could be in such a condition already until Okita broke the moment of silence.

"Must have been that kiss then" she snapped her head to look at him in shock and her face turned red again.

"U-Uh, O-Okita-san, um, about that, I-I… I uh…" her eyes looked away from his face as she blushed again.

"I'm sorry, I was out of place to do that… I thought I was dreaming…" she explained as she hid her face within her palms; shocked at her own honesty.

"Oh so you dream of me then, _ku-ri-su-chan_?" he teased her as her eyes became wide with shock.

"N-No, I-I mean, I, um-"her voice was interrupted by Okita laughing and she only smiled in response, knowing anything she said would surely be used against her, though her face was still flushed a deep crimson red.

Her mind was focused and clear with her next thought as she imagined the possibility of what had happened that night as she looked at the charming captain in front of her; her first actual friend.

'I'm going to find a way to help you, Okita Souji; I promise.'


	8. Chapter 8

I do not own Hakuouki or any of the characters from the show, there will be similarities to the show!

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"How can I be calm" Kurisutaru awoke to hear Itou-sensei's voice as he argued with Kondou-san a few rooms away.

She had been sleeping soundly when the low voices became angrier, rising ever so slowly into a full on argument. Itou-sensei seemed completely distraught by something, whereas Kondou-san seemed to still have the kind tone to his voice, never losing that innocence to it as he reasoned with Itou.

"When there are secrets among the leaders it causes discord among the men" Itou seemed to have sound logic to whatever his argument was.

"I completely understand" Kondou still had that kind voice, though it seemed to be plagued with sadness as he spoke.

"So what you mean is to split up the group?" Hijikata cut in to clarify Itou's objectives on the matter and lay it out before them.

"Oh, I wouldn't say split up the group, but rather, a well executed division of forces" Itou corrected Hijikata's blunt clarification with his softer, less aggressive view on the situation before them.

"I will keep the existence of your furies to myself, as you will keep the leave of me and my men to yourselves" Itou continued his explanation and reasoning while the other two men kept quiet.

"Very well then, it seems we have no choice on the matter" Kondou concluded as she heard shuffling of feet and clothing.

She assumed their meeting was over as she rose to a sitting position on her futon and stretched her tight, sore limbs, awakening them from their slumber.

"Furies" she mumbled to herself, wondering what exactly it was they had meant by that term.

'Perhaps they are some sort of elite unit' she concluded that this must be what they had been talking about.

She couldn't understand why Itou would leave because of that but she understood that an elite unit would have to be kept a secret from their enemies, so it would only make sense as to why they wanted to keep it that way.

Standing up she pulled herself into her plain kimono and slid her door open to view the garden that was now dull with the coming of winter. The plants had begun to wilt and leaves littered the ground as the weather grew less and less friendly.

Walking over to where they kept the brooms and other cleaning supplies she quickly found what she needed and hurried off to sweep the headquarters, ignoring the chill that made its way to her very core and stayed there.

Once she had finished sweeping the main area of the headquarters she returned the broom to its rightful place and pulled a tub of water over by the garden to begin washing the pale blue overcoats that the Captains would wear on their outings.

'I swear it's like these guys never cleaned anything a day in their lives' she thought amusingly as she scrubbed each overcoat until it seemed to regain its vibrant look.

'The only one that seems to have been cleaned on a regular basis is Saito-sans' she glanced over at the folded overcoat off to her left on the stairs. It had been the only one that hadn't needed to be cleaned.

Come to think of it she hadn't seen Saito in a while either, she wondered if he was on a mission or something.

"I haven't seen Heisuke-kun either…" she muttered out loud as she paused her scrubbing to think about the two captains' unexplained absence.

"That's cause he's gone" Okita's voice snapped her back to reality as she looked at him and frowned.

"Gone where, and Saito-san too?" She was confused, no one had told her about this never mind came to say goodbye.

A slight pain in her chest shot its way to her stomach as she pictured both captains leaving without a word, not even acknowledging her in the slightest as they parted ways.

Okita only watched her as he thought of a response, the unending eye contact made her uncomfortable and shift where she knelt by the tub of water. Mindlessly she began scrubbing again, but not nearly as thoroughly as she had thought she would be.

"They left with Itou-san and his men; figured it was best for them" this was the last thing she had thought would happen.

Heisuke she could understand him leaving because Itou-sensei was his teacher, whom he had a deep respect for and a sense of loyalty.

Saito-san was a different story though; he had no reason to leave. His belief in the Shinsengumi was strong; she could sense that much. So she had a hard time wrapping her head around accepting that he had just up and left them without any reason. She concluded that he must have been sent there by the commander. That was the only_ logical_ explanation.

After much consideration she nodded to Okita slowly and his face turned into a grin as he kept watching her scrub the overcoats clean.

"Don't worry _Ku-ri-su-chan_, you can't get rid of _me_ that easily" he promised as his shoulders shook with laughter and he smiled deeply to her.

A moment passed and Kurisutaru gazed at Okita thoughtfully; she needed to ask him a question but was afraid of the answer. She didn't want to be eavesdropping but its hard not to do when you have overly sensitive hearing and people raise their voices in anger.

"Okita?" her voice trembled as she anticipated her question to him, relaxing when he looked straight into her face with a genuine caring look.

"What… are 'Furies'?" as she finished her sentence she gasped; Okita had closed the distance between them and covered her mouth as she got the last word out.

His face was an inch from hers as he looked straight into her eyes, his sweet scent trailed over her sense as he remained stationed in front of her; his breath coated her senses and electricity shot straight from the bottom of her stomach to her chest as her heart fluttered and her head spun.

"**_Don't ever speak of them again, Kurisu-chan"_** his voice was dark and his eyes were guarded as he removed his hand from her mouth and he leaned back into a sitting position in front of her, his gaze flickered to the door to see if anyone was behind them trying to eavesdrop.

"Y-Yes, Okita-san" she nodded and bowed to him deeply.

She wasn't sure exactly what the Furies were, but judging by his reaction they needed to be kept a secret. She refused to be the one to expose whatever it was they were trying to hide. A part of her was glad they he didn't tell her; that meant that she'd be safer if she didn't know, or at least she had hoped that's what it meant.

Okita sat there with her in silence as she washed the last of the overcoats; satisfied with her work she hung them to dry and dumped the water out of the tub and continued with her work.

* * *

She was able to push the furies from her mind for the rest of the day as she finished her chores. She had decided to eat her meals in the confines of her own room to keep from letting anything slip; until the furies were completely forgotten to her wouldn't trust herself not to say anything by accident.

As the sun set lower in the sky, Kurisutaru grew increasingly more restless. Her feet tapped impatiently on the ground and her nails repetitively made thrumbing noises on the desk in front of her.

"Ugh, enough of this" she mumbled as she pushed herself off the ground, feeling a tingling electic current shooting through her legs.

"Oh no, my legs must have fallen asleep!" she continued to speak out loud as she fell back to the floor, creating a loud 'thud' with the impact.

She flung her legs in the air and swung them back and forth, giggling uncontrollably at the tickling, yet painful sensation she got while they moved.

"There we go, much better!" she rubbed her soft bare legs as the blood returned to them and the sensations ended.

Rolling back onto her feet and standing up straight she returned to what she had wanted to do before, walking to the door she slowly slid it open and listened closely; she didn't hear anyone anywhere near her room so she continued out her door and walked until she found herself outside the Shinsengumi headquarters.

* * *

She remembered the last time she had been outside the Headquarters alone Saito had followed her; then coincidentally rescued her from any ill-intent Itou-sensei had towards her and sent her back to Okita.

'Come to think of it, Okita had seemed surprised to see me that night; I doubt he even knew I left' she concluded that Saito had only said that to ensure she'd get back to headquarters safely.

The air was colder than that night had been by far; even when she had been soaked and crawled out of the lake it had been warmer than she was right now. The chill had made its way to her very core, causing her to shiver uncontrollably and her teeth hurt from chattering.

'Okay either be warm like summer or cold like winter but not the in-between stage; this sucks' she thought sourly to herself as she wondered how long she would have to walk in order to reach her destination.

Sure enough after another 20 minutes of walking in the frozen environment and enduring more cold than she could comfortably stand;following only her gut instincts, she had arrived.

Her eyes scanned the secluded natural hot springs in front of her with an excitement boiling within her. Her muscles relaxed and she focused solely on getting into the warm water ahead of her as she sprinted closer.

Coming to the edge of the water she began to take her clothes off and placed them next to the water as she dipped her toes into the water first, testing their temperature and smiling in satisfaction.

The water was hot at first as her toes submersed themselves initially. Slowly her body adjusted to the heat of the water surrounding her and she lowered herself into the water even more.

Her muscles relaxed, the chill escaped her body, her jaw went slack and stopped chattering. Her long hair flared out around her in the water as she relaxed against a rock wall to the back; the heat escaping the wall radiated through her skin and muscles while she closed her eyes and inhaled the steam rising from the water.

For a while she sat there submerged in the warm water, allowing it to overwhelm her senses. She had almost fallen asleep completely when she realized someone was standing at the other side of the water.

"U-Uh, um, K-Kazama what're you doing here?" she lifted her hands to cover her face while the water and the rest of her arms angled to cover her chest.

"I'm surprised the dogs of the Bakufu would let their ace-in-the-hole out at night by herself." Kazama said indifferently as he stood there watching her.

"Never a dull moment, I suppose" she mumbled to herself while rolling her eyes at the red eyed man in front of her.

He didn't seem to be standing aggressively at all, he stood there with his arms folded into the sleeves of his haori; his eyes stared at her and she felt as if there was a vast universe of thoughts behind those eyes occurring every second, she felt as though she could see how much he thought about everything that was surrounding him.

Suddenly as she allowed her own eyes to scan her surroundings, they fell upon her pile of clothes sitting not far from where Kazama stood. She realized that she wasn't armed; her Akaiittou was back in her room and she had left it there on purpose because then no one would worry about her if they realized she was gone.

"Don't worry I'm not here to attack you" his voice was soft as he detected her anxiety about not being armed; he had noticed the flicker of panic in her eyes as she looked at her clothing beside the water.

She relaxed a bit knowing that he wasn't there with the intent to hurt her but she still felt uncomfortable being naked in the water around him; even though he said he had no intent to harm her, her body trembled as he watched her.

She felt uneasy under his gaze and wasn't sure where this feeling came from but pushed it away; assuming it was just her instincts trying not to let her guard down too much around the man who had tried to kill her multiple times before.

"So then why are you here?" her curiosity got the best of her, she figured while he was here she should get some answers.

"I came to see whether what you claimed was in fact the truth." His eyes narrowed as he waited for a response.

"It is the truth, I have no reason to lie to you" she felt confused that he didn't believe her; her brows pulled together in frustration.

"Well then why don't you tell me how it is possible that you are the daughter of Ryuzo Shinji?"

"I-I'm not from this time. I came here by accident and appeared within the headquarters of the Shinsengumi" her gaze never left his face as she watched his reaction to her words.

He seemed to not change as he took in what she had said, he only seemed to wait silently for her to continue her explanation.

"I don't know how I got here, I just appeared here when I woke up, okay" she was irritated now; she didn't have to explain herself to him. She didn't owe him anything, this was the same man who attacked and almost killed Okita twice.

She ignored her naked self and moved towards where her clothes sat as she pulled herself from the water and began to dress herself. Tugging the clothes on she turned to walk away, feeling a cold hand grasp her arm tightly; turning to look into the blond mans eyes all she saw was emptiness within them.

"Why're you making this so difficult, all I want is answers" his voice was stuff and rough as he spoke.

'That voice' her eyes widened in panic as his voice filled her head with images of her nightmares, she snapped her arm out of his grip as her heart began to quicken its pace in her chest.

"Get away from me!" she screamed frantically as she sprinted into the woods away from him as fast as she could.

The cold air made its way back to her skin as she burst through the forest, sticks and twigs from trees on the way scratched and cut her skin open, she tripped a few times and stumbled because of sheer panic which caused small bruises to form on her legs and arms.

She found herself on the main road back to the headquarters where she saw a man in a pale blue and white haori with his sword drawn, standing over a corpse on the ground; she slowed herself to a stop when the man sniffed the air and turned to face her. The relief she had felt in the instant of seeing the Shinsengumi overcoat suddenly vanished as she took in what she saw.

His hair was completely silver and the whole front of his body was stained with the blood of the man on the ground, his face was contorted painfully into a grin as he looked at her with blood red eyes; eyes that scared her more than those of Kazama Chikage's.

"Blood. I want, your blood" he raised his katana at her and swung wildly with strength she didn't think capable of a mere human.

As his blade swung down she managed to dodge it with ease but stumbled backwards and landed herself on the ground, looking up to the crazed Shinsengumi warrior as he took advantage of the opening.

Her eyes widened as his blade rushed towards her, about to deliver a blow that would have been fatal to any human but stopped short as it met the blade of another. A man with dark hair kept her attacker at bay.

Thrusting the crazed man's blade back, he moved quickly to strike the man down by thrusting his blade through his chest.

Her head spun as she watched the events unravel before her; before unconsciousness took her she looked up at the man who saved her and remained with his back turned, looking down at his fallen opponent.

As the darkness took over her eyes closed, inhaling a sweet scent before nothingness.


	9. Chapter 9

I do not own Hakuouki or any of the characters within it, there will be some similarities to the show! :)

* * *

**Chapter 9**

The room spun gently as her thoughts became coherent enough to understand.

'Wh-What happened to me' the images of what she had last experienced fluttered behind her closed eyelids.

Images of the hot springs to Kazama's appearance and her attempt to flee him, then the epic failure of being attacked by a Shinsengumi member and then being saved by another, only to fall into unconsciousness…

'Who was that warrior…? Why did Kazama suddenly scare me so much?' the questions in her head were muted by the soft whispering in another room somewhere near hers.

She strained to even make out what they were saying so it was near impossible to tell who the voices belonged to as long as they were whispering.

"What you just expect us to pretend like nothing happened?" was the first voice she was able to clearly make out at first.

"Well I don't think we can just kill her" a second voice whispered in reply.

"What other choice do we have; she witnessed the failed warriors" this voice rose louder than the others and she was able to pick out that it belonged to Hijikata.

"So, just get a blade then? It's the best way to make sure the runt doesn't talk, am I right?" this voice was louder than all the others; it was hardly a whisper and she could easily tell it belonged to Okita.

She heard the padded sound of footsteps and the door sliding open, then sliding shut again with mumbled comments from the other captains about how they were going to handle this whole situation.

The footsteps came closer to her room and her door slid open but she kept her eyes shut and her breathing steady as he made his way to her and sat down; she didn't want him to know she was awake just yet, she figured if she just kept sleeping they would be left alone by the other captains for now.

"I'm trying Kurisu-kun but I don't think there's any other way for this to end. They just won't seem to listen to me" he spoke after a few moments of silence, his voice was full of sadness and frustration; as if he had been arguing for days on her behalf.

She fought to keep her eyes shut as his sweet scent wafted in her direction, she just wanted to hug him and tell him everything would be alright and that she was sorry for leaving and wouldn't ever do it again but it was too late for that now.

It was just too late to turn back; she slowly released the grip on her eyelids and felt them slide open to look at the captain who was sitting next to her against a wall. His head was leaned back on the wall behind him and his eyes were shut tight as he breathed.

She didn't say a word, nor did her movements make a sound as she uncovered herself and snuck closer to the young captain, unaware of her now being so close to him.

Her body trembled in nervousness as she knew he was oblivious to her, she knelt her right knee down beside his left hand on the ground when he finally realized she was there; his eyes fluttered open as his head lowered to speak but her hand covered his mouth gently before he could get a word out.

Her brows pulled together into a frown as she shook her head, motioning for him not to say anything; he only gave a slight nod in acknowledgement.

Her whole hand tingled as it touched his soft skin, it sent electric currents down her arm to her chest causing her heart to flutter and heat rose to her cheeks.

Slowly releasing her hand from his mouth and dropping her gaze from his, her hand made its' way to her chest as she leaned back into her sitting position beside him; staring at the wooden floor her other hand fell into her lap as her shoulders slumped and her head hung low.

'Why do I feel this way?' her head pounded from wondering so much but her thoughts were interrupted and her eyes widened in surprise by a warm hand brushing her right cheek and her world spun a bit faster.

His hand lingered on her cheek and she stayed staring at the ground for a few moments longer; she was afraid to look up, she was afraid of what she felt, she was afraid that her only friend wouldn't accept it if her feelings were more than that of a friend.

Surely he understood she hadn't ever known anyone to consider her as a friend and that's why he was so nice to her and caring.

Surely he wouldn't accept more than feelings of a friend. She didn't know the first thing about friendship never mind anything beyond that; it was a surprise she had even kissed him to begin with.

She pushed these thoughts from her mind as quickly as they came; she can't allow herself to start thinking about kissing him. She hadn't ever meant to do that it was just a spur of the moment thing.

The warmth on her cheek was gone and she looked up to Okita's face and saw his half lidded emerald green eyes boring into hers and her heart skipped a beat as she broke the gaze again to look at the floor.

No longer than a moment later both his strong hands had wrapped themselves around her arms and yanked her to him roughly, her head collided with his chest as her eyes widened with shock. His arms snaked around her tightly as she was crushed into his body and his cheek dropped to lie on top of her head.

She had her arms on either side of her body pressed against his stomach while his warmth resonated through her. At first her breathing was heavy with surprise but she was able to compose herself quickly; the feel of his skin against her head made her pulse quicken and at times she caught herself suddenly breathing heavier just because of the contact and the closeness in itself.

It felt like an hour had passed but in reality it had only been a few moments. She turned her head to face his chest, and tilted it slowly up to face him; his sweet scent cascaded around her forehead telling her he was looking at her now as she met his gaze.

His eyes were gentle and half lidded as he looked at her, bringing a hand up to brush her cheek and seeing the immediate flush of her skin made a faint smile touch his lips.

She almost couldn't handle being this close to him anymore as his scent completely overtook all of her senses. She took in the sight of his silky hair framing his soft skin perfectly, his green eyes shining bright from beneath locks of brownish red that hung handsomely around his face.

Her heart throbbed in her chest as she kept her gaze locked with his; his hand made its way from her cheek to her neck, resting there as he brought his other hand to pull the back of her arm forward, forcing her to move closer to him he leaned in until their lips brushed against one another and held them there.

The contact made her eyes slid shut, she held her breath as her stomach did flips, her chest was pressed gently against his and her neck was arched back in order just to reach his face from where she was sitting; or now more like laying.

He closed the distance between them and she gasped realizing that she had held her breath the whole time they had held that distance from each other. If she thought the contact before was almost unbearable, she now stood corrected.

Every movement of his soft lips pressed against hers caused a fire within her and caused her blood to pump harder through her veins. She felt as if with every tilt and every sharp inhale she became more enveloped in the contact.

His hands had moved to hold her head close to his but releasing his left hand it made its way down the right side of her neck and along her collar bone to her shoulder, then gripped her right arm tugging her closer to him; making her breathing more laboured as she tried not to give in to temptation.

Her attempts were futile; she felt her body adjust its position more comfortably within his embrace and her arms snaked up to find his neck, she interlocked her fingers into his hair and gasped when his hand trailed down her back sending shivers throughout her whole body.

He took this chance to take their kiss farther as he traced her bottom lip with his tongue; grinning when she met him with her own eagerly. His hand was back onto her shoulder, but slowly slid its way down her side and to her hip causing her exhale to turn into a low moan which she surprised herself with.

She broke contact with his lips as she panted and looked at him; she didn't want this to go too far but her body acted on its own.

She didn't want to lose her only friend to this instinctive need for more affection. She didn't understand it but her chest throbbed whenever anything happened between them and she couldn't ignore it anymore, granted it would be easier if he wasn't so willing to give her this affection; but he was.

He pulled her face back to continue kissing her as she inhaled sharply from the sudden movement; her hands had moved to his chest and her fingertips dug into his skin as their lips crushed together again, causing a low growl from Okita's throat.

Her blood boiled from this reaction, she felt her whole body grow warm as he pulled her right onto his lap and both his hands found their way to either side of her waist.

His palms rubbed from her hips to her ribs, stopping just below her chest and then making their way back down to her hips, then slowly running down her thighs and her muscles tightened where she sat. She was sure that by now the amount of times her stomach had flipped would have killed her and a moan had escaped her as his hands massaging her body tightened where they were.

She heard the padding of footsteps just in time to throw herself off of Okita and onto the floor beside him as she looked down and panted; thanking the heavens she was still clothed in her yukata.

Okita just grinned as he caught his breath while looking at her; the door slid open moments later and he lazily looked to the newcomers who stared at them warily.

'Did they hear us?!' heat flooded to her face as she imagined what they could have heard; this caused her hands to rose to her cheeks, covering them in embarrassment.

"What a surprise Hijikata-san, Kondou-san. Didn't expect you guys here" his grin had faded as he looked to Kondou-san and Hijikata-san in the doorway; they both looked first to Okita whose face was slightly flushed and then to Kurisutaru whose face was completely red as though she had been in the sun for hours on end.

"We would like you both to come with us" Kondou spoke carefully as he eyed the two with caution.

Kurisutaru bowed deeply as she lifted herself to her feet, struggling to regain her composure and force the light-headedness to fade.

Okita lazily got up after her and they headed back to the meeting room; she felt the same as she did her first day coming here, she felt like her fate was about to change with these men.

This time was different though, this time she had something to lose.


	10. Chapter 10

**I do not own Hakuouki nor any of the characters :) There will be similarities to the show! **

**Thanks to those who have read so far! I appreciate the reviews and opinions! Please don't hesitate to review and voice your own opinions as I write :) **

**Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated considering this is my first story :)**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

The room felt tense, cold, and the air itself was so thick she felt like she could choke on it as she walked in and faced the three high ranked men. Kondou-san sat casually between Sannan-san and Hijikata-san who bore unreadable expressions.

She had never felt this uncomfortable sitting before the Shinsengumi; when she first came here they didn't know who she was so she felt as though time would be kind and allow her to find a place among these men while she was in this era.

This time was completely different than that of which she had experienced before; this time she felt hopeless, like there was nothing she could say or do to change their minds.

So she watched Okita take his seat by the door lazily and her eyes flickered nervously between him and three men before her; he seemed to be in such a relaxed position but his eyes deceived his body.

Beneath the veil of his green eyes she saw that he seemed to look concerned but he closed his eyes and she was unable to read farther into them so she turned to make eye contact with the commander who sat in front of her with a soft expression on his face.

"Well Kurisu-chan, do you know why you are here?" Kondou-san said gently with a sad smile; she read from that expression alone that they had already made up their minds.

"Correct, Commander Kondou-san. I do believe that I know exactly why I was called to meet with you" she kept her voice steady and met the man's gaze with her own, forcing as much courage into her face and posture as possible.

"Then you understand what kind of situation we have been put into; am I correct in assuming this?" Sannan-san eyed her warily as she nodded in response.

"Then understand, child, any unsettling acts on your part and we will not hesitate to remove you" Hijikata kept his unwavering stare on her while he spoke and her body trembled as the anxiety rose within her.

"Y-You mean you're-"

"We're not killing you yet" Hijikata interrupted her with a harsh tone as she relaxed her posture a bit more in relief; her legs were numb from clenching her muscles the whole time.

Just as quickly as relief came it was taken away as the vice commander continued; clarifying the situation for the young half demon.

"But do not mistake our intentions, young lady. We will not take any measures to ensure your safety either" she ignored the threatening tone to his voice and bowed gratefully; while wincing from the tingling sensation in her legs now that she moved.

"Thank you very much" raising her head she noticed that no one in the room seemed to relax at all despite the news and decided that maybe it was too early to celebrate.

* * *

The day went by quickly even though she was left alone for most of the day, Okita was kept busy by Kondou-san and so she did her regular chores and spent the rest of the day in her room, even eating by herself to avoid unnecessary questions from the other Captains.

That night she laid softly on her side with her eyes closed and focused her mind on her breathing in order to possibly fall to sleep and keep her mind's activity at a minimum.

_'In…'_ cool air filled her rising chest slowly and then naturally fell as soon as her lungs had filled; her mind slowly slipped from consciousness as she continued.

_'And out…'_

She had almost fallen asleep when a soft knock on the door caught her attention; she sat up in her seat cautiously and eyed the door, seeing a large figure shadowing the entrance to her room.

"Kurisu-chan, may I come in?" Kondou-san's voice was almost a whisper as she eyed the silhouette of his body on her thin door.

"Sir" he slid the door open after her quiet response and entered the room, taking a seat in front of where she sat, his face seemed far from content which was very out of character for him; in fact it almost seemed like he was sad and in pain.

"Kurisu-chan, I hope you'll forgive me for this but you must understand that our secret cannot get out" his eyes reflected that of sadness as he gazed upon her, only looking away to grab something from his haori.

Her muscles tensed as she watched his hands defensively, she knew he wouldn't want to hurt her but the Shinsengumi was his life, even his family and she wouldn't underestimate the capabilities of humans when what they love most is at stake.

"That being said I cannot allow a mistake on my part to hurt those I care about most. Please, take this and leave the Shinsengumi; I will make a reason for your absence in the morning. You must leave, Kurisu-chan" her brows pulled together into a frown as she looked to what he held; in his outstretched hands was a pouch full of money which was obviously a way for her to find shelter and food on her own.

When she had lived on her own before she was able to find work or live off the land. Usually she would do work that strains regular humans; just because she didn't interact with them she still felt the need to help them.

When she wasn't doing strenuous work she would simply hunt and use vegetables from a garden which worked quite well until the colder months of the year. That was when she would use the money she had gathered throughout the warmer months in order to survive; she was content with doing what she needed in order to get by.

"Kondou-san you don't have t-"she was interrupted and pulled into a rough embrace by the gentle leader of the Shinsengumi. His strong arms wrapped around her gently, his head hung over her shoulder as she breathed in the scent of his haori; it strangely had the same sweet smell as Okita's but had a slight musk to it.

As she reciprocated the embrace she suddenly realized that Kondou-san had reminded her of what it was like to have a father.

The way he knew all of the captains as well as how he came to know her suddenly dawned on her as she tried to understand the thoughts going through the young commander's mind.

_'I wonder if I've become his vision of a daughter'_ a slight smile tugged at her lips as his arms tightened around her.

"Consider it a token of how I feel, Kurisu-chan. Okita will be angry with me, but it's much better than how he would have been affected with the only other possible outcome of this situation" the faint smile on his face reassured her that understood exactly what he was doing.

"Thank you very much, Kondou-san" she bowed deeply once he had pulled away from the embrace and paused to look at him. His body spoke less of more relaxation and his eyes were glossy as he gazed at her.

_'He must have been happy to get this over with, and happy that I had agreed to take his offering and leave.' _

"I will lead you out the back way, so please put this on" he held out a robe before him that would cover her all the way to her feet and also cover her head; he placed it gently over her small body as his sweet yet masculine scent cascaded over her again.

She lifted herself to her feet and nodded to the man, putting her kimono on as well as equipping her Akaiittou to her side; she placed the pouch of money inside her Kimono and lifted the hood over her head before following Kondou-san out of her room and towards the back of the headquarters.

Her footsteps echoed almost like whispers behind the commanders as she followed behind him. His movement had an unconscious gracefulness to it and she found herself memorizing the back of him and searing it into her mind.

_'Am I ever going to see them again?' _her thoughts rapidly flew through questions like this as she gazed at the broad back of the leader of the Shinsengumi; but they seemed to always revolve around this one question.

As they reached the outskirts of the Shinsengumi headquarters Kondou-san's movement slowed to a stop, telling her they arrived at where her involvement with these men ended.

Something struck a chord in her chest and pain completely took over her body.

She fell to her knees, her left hand braced herself from completely collapsing to the ground, and her right hand clutched her chest as if it would ease the pain she felt.

_'Wh-What's happening to me?"_

Tears streamed down her face at the intolerable pain that she couldn't comprehend; it felt like she had 10 blades striking through her chest at the same time.

Her heart fluttered and the hot pain throbbed repeatedly, her stomach turned and her head spun wildly making her dizzy.

Had she been struck? She couldn't believe it as her head lifted to look at the gentle man now kneeling in front of her with worried eyes scanning over her tiny figure which was now clutching inwardly to the pain.

No, this pain was something else; something she hadn't ever felt before.

This is what it felt like to have companions and to lose them; she realized now that she was walking away from the only people she had ever interacted with on an everyday basis since her parents died.

That thought was enough to send her emotions haywire as her glazed eyes suddenly overflowed with tears as she sat frozen on the ground in front of the worried young commander for a few minutes in silence before attempting to get to her feet.

"Kurisu-chan, are you alright?" His strong hands were politely helping hold her up as she wavered to her feet with her arms wrapped tightly around her middle torso as if to hold herself together.

She opened her mouth to speak but only made a choking sound before lowering her gaze to the ground as the tears fell mercilessly.

Kondou-san's eyes softened as he understood why she was crying and clutching her chest; she felt his strong hands wrap around her tiny frame and pulled her into another gentle embrace.

The soft material brushed against her face as she wrapped her arms around him and cried silently into his dark haori.

Her whole body shook with sadness as emotions took over her entire body and the warmth gained from Kondou-san's embrace was short lived as he pulled her away to look at her face with deeply furrowed brows.

"Do not be sad my child, we will see each other again I'm sure; as for you and Souji, I don't think he'll agree to stay away from you even if I beg him" a smile graced his features as he wiped the tears away from her cheeks with his thumbs.

"T-Thank you very much Kondou-san; you don't know how wonderful you've been to me" the words that strained to come out threatened to choke her as she bowed slightly and wiped the rest of the moisture from her cheeks.

Kondou-san's large hands stroked the strands of hair that fell to the sides of her head as he gazed at her face; it seemed he was treasuring the small moments left between them.

"I want you to continue down this road until you see a large temple barracks; take refuge near there but be cautious Kurisu-kun, there are dangerous men lurking around no matter where you are."

Warmth filled her chest at hearing his words; this was the first time he had ever used her name so casually before, she had to admit it felt nice.

She nodded and bowed again to the commander as he waved for her to leave; watching as she reluctantly turned her back to him and walked away, away from the Shinsengumi, away from her friends, and away from Okita.


	11. Chapter 11

I do not own Hakuouki nor do I own any of the characters, There will be some similarities to the show! :)

* * *

**Chapter 11**

It was dark and cold no matter how much clothing she wore; the earth was damp and uninviting as she treaded down the lonely road towards the farthest end of the village.

Strangely enough once she had admitted she wasn't going back she felt calm and at peace with everything, she was used to being alone so this wasn't exactly a stretch for her even though her heart ached to see them again.

Even the uninviting environment around her reminded her of the place she had come from; it reminded her of home, as much as she was reluctant to admit it she missed being there now that she was away from the Shinsengumi.

She hadn't lived there long but the small temple surrounded by forest on all sides was so secluded from the regular population that she wasn't bothered often.

While she had been living with the Shinsengumi she had almost forgotten about her life that waited for her, but considering she couldn't remember how she got here left holes in her theories as to how to get back.

Her only theory left to be proven wrong was that somehow she had used time travel; it seemed possible since she had yet to discover all of her abilities but usually her abilities would arise when she had a sudden burst of emotions overwhelming her.

Walking into her home was definitely not a situation she would find herself overwhelmed so that left a giant hole in her theory.

Then suddenly waking up in the Shinsengumi headquarters seemed to be weird as well; why wake up there of all places? Perhaps because it resembled her home so she felt that she could be comfortable there?

Next concern was her dreams she had been having more often recently; her nightmares that left her in a cold sweat every night when Okita wasn't around unnerved her to no end. She knew they were related to her past but she had no memory of it so she hadn't been able to piece together this puzzle of tiny pieces.

After a few hours of walking she came upon a part of the village that seemed to be fast asleep; as she walked through the streets mindlessly towards an inn she saw a large area of temple-like buildings with large walls surrounding it that she assumed was another headquarters in the distance.

Although she didn't know who it belonged to she assumed this was the one Kondou-san had been speaking of.

_'Have I really been walking for this long?'_ she glanced at her surroundings and noted that the sky seemed to become lighter; almost like dawn would appear within a few more hours.

_'It seems I have more questions than I thought; so much for getting answers by staying with them'_

Sighing to herself she decided to take refuge to the nearby inn and hurried towards where sleep would be.

She walked through the door and a light bell rung to announce her entrance; she frowned at how it seemed to be much louder this early in the morning than it would have been any other time of day or night as a middle aged man came down the stairs sleepily to greet her.

As he walked down the stairs clumsily he had been yawning with his eyes closed, once they opened they narrowed at the robe she wore over her head and he observed her appearance thoroughly.

The man was rather plain looking with jet black hair, pulled back into a small ponytail behind his head; a few stray strands of hair fell in his face and he was clad in a simple brown kimono. The color reminded her much of Okita's and another soft chord strung within her chest and constricted her throat.

"Can I help you?" there was no kindness or gentleness to his voice, just a monotone, tired sound; his eyes widened and he relaxed his posture once she lowered her hood knowing it would be tough to gain entry without doing so.

"I was wondering if I could take refuge here for a little while; I'm not from around here so I am looking for a place to spend my evenings" she bowed politely while she spoke and the innkeeper fumbled around a couple cupboards.

"O-Of course, my lady. We have many rooms available; I shall see you to your room right now." A soft politeness came over his voice as he grabbed things she would need for sleeping and motioned for her to follow to her room with a flushed face.

_'I wonder if he's got a fever' _she thought worriedly once she noticed the red flush on his cheeks as she followed behind him quietly.

"Here you are, my lady" he motioned for her to go in once he had prepared her bedding and other luxuries within the confines of her room; which seemed to more welcoming than her room with the Shinsengumi but she never did mind the lack of luxuries within the headquarters.

"My name is Daisuke, and I own this inn. Please do not hesitate to come to me if you are in need of anything, my lady" the flush didn't leave his face and she restrained herself from checking his temperature herself since he would likely make her leave for such a forward action.

She really did get too used to being companions with humans if she was automatically about to touch one without hesitation or pause for thinking.

"My name is Kurisutaru Shinji; thank you very much for your hospitality and since I might be here for a little while if you need anything please do not hesitate to ask for my help with anything. I'd be happy to be of service" she bowed deeply as the man nodded in response and took his leave.

She inhaled the scent of this place deeply as she walking into her room, taking in the scent of freshly cleaned wood as she scanned the room over with her tired eyes.

The room was the same size as she had with the Shinsengumi; it had a bed laid out in the middle of the room with a desk off to the side with papers and other things on top of it.

She walked over to the desk as she took off her robe and kimono, folding and placing them neatly next to it she took off her Akaiittou and placed it next to her bedding.

_'Just in case…' _she thought as she crawled into the freshly cleaned and laid out bedding.

It wasn't long until sleep took her mind to a familiar dark place where her conscious thoughts couldn't reach.

_'It's already morning…? I feel like I just fell asleep a moment ago…' _

She had awoken multiple times throughout the night because of her nightmares; they were always the same but it seemed that last night was the worst night since she didn't just dream it once, every time she fell asleep she dreamt of it.

She must have woken up over 20 times that night because of those dreams and it took its' toll on her minds awareness since she hardly noticed someone walk up to her door.

"Kurisu-chan, would you like some breakfast?" the familiar voice of the inn-keeper rang through her room as she sat up quickly.

"U-Uh, yes sir! I'll be there in a moment, thank you very much!" she bowed to the figure standing outside her room knowing he couldn't see her but it didn't really matter much in her opinion; she was grateful he even offered.

Pulling herself from her bedding she folded it nicely as she walked over to dress in her kimono again and equipped her Akaiittou on her side; she left her room and headed back towards the front of the inn, following the aroma of breakfast the whole way as her mouth watered.

"Good morning, my lady! Please, join me for breakfast!" the man said politely as he motioned towards a door connecting the inn with another building.

"Of course, thank you very much!" she bowed as she walked into the next building which seemed to be a small restaurant; there were 4 tables total in the room, 2 on each side and then the counter where the cook was busy preparing breakfast for the few people in the room.

Daisuke-san slipped past her and walked to an empty table, motioning for her to sit as he retrieved the food from the cook for them both and sat down in front of her while smiling warmly.

"You had said you weren't from around these parts?" he said inquiringly as he began to eat his breakfast while listening intently to her story.

"That's correct, I was from Edo and decided to move here but unfortunately I'm not well acquainted with the area. I'm not sure where I can find work or if there's much work to be had" she laughed gently as the lies poured fluently from her.

She felt bad for lying to him but there wasn't much other choice she had; no one would believe her if she said that she randomly appeared to the Shinsengumi, became part of their ranks, and then was cast out.

Another pain ached within her chest as she remembered the men she wasn't going to see anymore and fought to swallow the lump in her throat.

"Oh I see, well I'm sure there is plenty of work here for a beautiful young lady such as yourself" she blushed at his compliment and looked to her food which was quickly being eaten; she hadn't noticed how hungry she had gotten.

"Perhaps I will see what there is for work around town; Daisuke-san, would you be able to keep an ear out for anything as a favour to me? I would be most grateful!" she clapped her hands in front of her and half bowed as the man in front of her smiled and nodded in response.

"Well I should take a walk around town to see if there's anything in particular I can find for work!" she finished her meal, rose from her seat and reached to pull out her money pouch but Daisuke only waved her not to.

"Heavens, young lady, don't worry about breakfast this morning! It's on the house." He smiled gently as he rose beside her to bring their plates to the kitchen after they said goodbye to each other.

Returning to her room to put her robe on and cover her head she left the inn and began to explore her surroundings as she walked through the streets.

As she walked through the small crowds of people she caught glances everywhere she went, she definitely stood out by wearing the robe to cover her head but at least no one would actually see her face or that she wore a katana at her hip.

The day passed as she travelled quite far from the inn to search for a place that was hiring but didn't seem to have much luck; a few times she would catch sight of a blue haori off in the distance towards the headquarters but she was far enough it seemed they didn't travel to this part of the town very often.

The sun began to set far off in the distance behind trees turning the sky a light pink color as the world around her seemed to cool off in its' absence.

Still, she continued wandering as long as there were people around; and it seemed that in the area she was in now there was many people who seemed to be coming into the streets as the sun went down.

Time passed and darkness took over the sky but there was lanterns lit all around her giving the streets a welcoming aura as she walked passed buildings filled with people.

_'I wonder if it's like this every night' _her thoughts were interrupted when something in one of the buildings caught her eye.

The woman was gorgeous; she wore a deep red kimono with a special obi that fell to her ankles and her hair was pinned beautifully with a few strands that fell delicately beside her soft face.

The makeup she wore gave a large contrast to her features and focused on her lips and her eyes; when she spoke her voice was like a song as she poured sake for some men who seemed to be worshipping her beauty for the evening.

A gust of wind blew past and she hadn't even noticed that the hood had slipped back and off of her head while she observed the woman through the window, mesmerized by the sight.

"Beautiful, is she not?" another lovely voice sounded next to her as Kurisutaru looked towards its owner.

"Yes, she is wonderful" she nodded and noticed that the woman who she was speaking to wore generally the same clothing as the woman inside; this peaked her interest.

"May I ask what this place is; I've never seen a place like this before in my life."

The woman nodded and motioned for Kurisutaru to follow her to a place where they could talk.

She was lead into an empty room that was dimly light and so she sat down on one side of the room facing the woman who had led her there and was now sliding the door shut behind her.

While they had walked there she had noticed that all the women in this placed were dressed similarly and wore the same makeup, although their hairstyles seemed to differ they were all absolutely beautiful in her opinion.

"The women you saw as we were coming in are called Maiko; they are apprentice Geisha." The woman who was now sitting in front of her gracefully answered in the same sing-song voice.

"My name is Kimigiku and I run this small Maiko house which resides within what is called the red light district" she bowed after introducing herself and Kurisutaru found she was blushing a bit.

"I'm Kurisutaru, it's a pleasure to meet you Kimigiku-san" bowing deeply she raised her head to see that the woman was eyeing her with curiosity.

"What, may I ask, brings you to the red light district by yourself young lady?" the woman tilted her head slightly as a smile touched her lips and waited patiently for Kurisutaru to gather her thoughts.

"I just recently arrived here and I've been in need for a place to work but after searching all day I've come up with nothing so far" her brows furrowed as she dropped her gaze to the floor.

"I see, well we are always in need of Maiko, Kurisu-chan. You're more than welcome to work here if this is something you'd be interested in" a gentle smile graced the woman's face as Kurisutaru's eyes widened in shock.

"B-But I don't have the makeup nor do I have the proper kimonos to wear and I wouldn't know how to dress myself or do my hair or my makeup for that matter!" she felt as though she had gotten out of line by speaking so openly but she did speak the truth; she would gladly work this job if she had the means to do so.

"Then you will come here tomorrow morning for training, do not worry about the makeup or kimono or the hair, we shall prepare you properly" her smile grew as she watched Kurisutaru clap her hands in front of her excitedly.

"Thank you very much!" she bowed so deeply that her nose touched the wooden floor and a smile was stuck on her face from excitement.

"You should get your rest tonight, Kurisu-kun; tomorrow will be a very testing day for you" Kimigiku rose to her feet and slid the door to the room open, motioning for her to leave.

Nodding to her, Kurisutaru quickly slipped out of the maiko house and headed back to the inn so she could get some rest and prepare for the next day's work.

As she walked she heard gunfire off in the distance that caught her off guard, first one shot, then two, and three.

_'What is going on…?' _she automatically headed in the direction to find the source of the gunfire; hoping it wasn't Shiranui making another entrance to the Shinsengumi.

The scent of gunpowder became clearer on the wind as she hurried to where she thought the sounds came from; people talking nearby causing her to lighten her steps and hide within the shadows to keep people from sensing her presence.

"Were you the ones-" a deep voice sounded viciously through her ears that made her body tremble from head to toe.

"Who shot Kondou-san, that is?" She came to the corner of a building and peered around to where the voices came from and her eyes widened as she saw what was occurring.

There were 2 men standing in the middle of the road and one was on the ground, his head had been removed from his body completely and blood covered the ground with a large pool of crimson.

A man who held a blood covered katana was standing in front of the last 2 men; he angrily sliced the second man open who then collapsed to the ground and bled out, and the last man was pinned to the wall by the same katana within a moment.

She watched the man tear the katana from body pinned to the wall, causing it to fall to the ground; then he lifted his sword over the man's body and dropped it, which again pierced the body through.

_'W-What's going on?' _ tears glazed her eyes as she gasped for air once the last of the three men had fallen and she lifted her hands over her mouth after she realized she had been holding her breath while watching; her gasp didn't go unnoticed by the angry warrior in front of her as he turned in her direction and sprinted towards her hiding place.

She stumbled back with wide eyes and she stared at the blood stained man running towards her. As he closed the distance between them she continued backwards, tripping on nothing but her own clumsiness, she clamped her eyes shut as she fell backwards and onto the ground and her hood slipped down off of her head and onto her back.

She opened her eyes in time to see the man's deep emerald eyes widen as he tried to recoil his katana from its thrusting motion, stopping it an inch from her collar bone; panting as he dropped his sword to the ground causing it to clatter loudly, he raised his right hand in front of him and blinked as he watched it shake with adrenaline.

"O-Okita-san?"


	12. Chapter 12

**I do not own Hakuouki, all I own is Kurisutaru! :) There will be similarities to the show!**

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**Chapter 12**

"O-Okita-san?" her voice was weak and she struggled to make any sound at all.

This sensation reminded her of Kazama; it reminded her of his cold eyes and his stare that could send even the strongest men running with their tails between their legs.

She didn't know why but this side of Okita frightened her; she knew he was a warrior but she had never seen him kill someone, he even seemed to enjoy it.

No, he didn't just simply _enjoy_ killing those men.

_'He… He loved it…" _

She had never imagined he would be like this, not in a million years; the thought of what he was capable of caused her body to shake uncontrollably as tears welled up in her eyes.

She had experienced demons being this way more often than not, and humans weren`t much different than many demons when they thirsted for blood, but it was the sheer pleasure he got from it that scared her more than anything.

The image of his face when he turned to look at her still burned fresh into her mind, the grin that he wore wasn't the same mischievous grin he always had when he was teasing her, it wasn't the grin that made her cheeks flush with heat or that made her stomach flutter or even the grin that pushed her buttons and sent her off the deep end with frustration.

It was the grin of someone who enjoyed taking lives of others whether it is orders from his commander or not.

It was the grin of someone who enjoyed playing the role of the blade; to kill someone without questioning why or if they deserved it.

It was the grin of someone who seriously wanted to feel the life drain from their enemy and watch their eyes grow dull as the last of their life force left them.

* * *

His hand fell back down to his side and his head hung low as he stood in front of the tiny woman in front of him; her golden brown eyes were too much to look at after what he had done,

Killing was all he was good for –or so he thought -but around her made him want to be better at more than just killing people.

It was too late now, he had almost killed her without even thinking about it; he was an inch away from taking her life with his own two hands.

The thought of that made his stomach do flips while he fought back the need to throw up.

There was no doubt in his mind that she hated him now; and he didn't blame her, he wouldn`t have ever forgiven himself if he hadn`t been able to stop in time.

Even Kondou-san disagreed with how much he enjoyed killing people, he knew that but it didn't stop him from staying by his side though.

'_Kondou-san'_

The name reminded him why he was here in the first place; it reminded him of why he enjoyed taking the three men's lives more than that of anyone else.

They had shot Kondou-san.

* * *

If her hood hadn't fallen, she would have been killed; half demon or not no one could survive their throat being sliced open.

She didn't want him to be like this, she didn't want him to take someone's life. She had taken so many lives' herself and she hated herself for it but never knew how to stop it from happening before it was too late.

* * *

_Images flashed through her mind of Okita standing over the men as he asked them a single question; it went unanswered –he didn`t seem to need an answer-as he beheaded the first of the three men effortlessly._

* * *

"Kurisu-kun… I…" his voice was deep and steady as he kept his head down, staring at the ground beneath him.

_'Why won't he look at me? ' _her brows tugged into a frown as her fists clenched the dirt and she stared up at the man before her who seemed to be struggling to find the right words to say.

Her golden brown orbs widened as she watched him suddenly collapse to his knees with his shoulders slouched forward; tears streamed down his face which seemed to contort in pain.

The face he made looked familiar; in fact everything about this seemed familiar.

She remembered Kondou-san walking her to the back of the headquarters and the pain she felt that crippled her to the point of no return.

She remembered the unimaginable searing pain within her chest that wouldn't subside no matter how hard she attempted to put it out with the tears that fell.

Her face softened as she shifted her position to sit on her knees, she reached her slender arms out to the strong man in front of her and tugged his head towards her.

He must have been shocked by the contact with her hands since he brought his head up to meet her gaze she saw the tears still streamed down his face relentlessly.

What she saw in his face couldn't be explained with words. There had never been any words created that could describe exactly how this man looked.

If she were to attempt it she would say that he looked broken and lost to Kurisutaru; he looked like he had no purpose anymore and she couldn't understand why but she knew that it took a lot for Okita to appear like this.

Okita leaned forward and roughly collapsed to the ground with his head buried in her lap, he made no sound but tears didn't stop falling from his face nor did he make any effort to move as they stayed there for a few minutes.

She closed her eyes and slowly let her hands naturally find their way to his brownish-red hair, where they instinctively began to run through as gently as possible to comfort him as much as she could.

"Kondou-san…" his voice wavered as it finally rang out into the darkness.

"They shot Kondou-san" his hands gripped the clothing on either side of her legs and he didn't say anything more as tears streamed from his face again; letting her piece it together herself, he didn't know if he could trust himself to speak more about it.

It only took her a moment to finally understand everything that occured; why he went after the men, why he seemed to enjoy it more than anything else, and why he seemed so broken.

When her parents were killed she had never enjoyed anything more than killing those villagers; as much as she frightened herself with it, she craved it more than anything.

_'Those men seemed to have taunted him with the gunfire since he doesn't have so much as a scratch on him'_

Feeling relieved that he wasn't injured her thoughts began to wander as she thought of the men who laid lifelessly on the road not far from them.

A part of her felt strongly as though the men deserved the punishment they had gotten, the other part of her hated herself for feeling that way.

_'Perhaps I understand him all too well'_

Her heart ached for her dear friend, just seeing Okita like this made her want to somehow take all this pain away from him, even though she didn't know how.

"It's going to be alright Souji, I promise you"

She was slightly disappointed when he decided to lift his head off her lap and raise it to her level; looking her in the eyes with his deep emerald green eyes she could tell he wanted to say something but couldn't bring himself to find the words.

A warm smile tugged at her lips as she leaned towards him, laying her face against his chest and wrapping her arms tightly around his body which sent electricity down her spine and her stomach fluttered nervously feeling his soft skin against her face.

"It's okay Souji, I'm alright" she knew he was worried about how he had almost killed her, and as much as it had frightened her at the time she understood that it was all merely an accident; and that he was sincerely sorry for it, he had no way to know that it was her beneath that hood anyways.

"Thank you, _Ku-ri-su-kun _"

She couldn't see his face but from his voice she could tell he was more relaxed and at peace with himself; but that didn't stop her from worrying about Kondou-san.

She wouldn't allow the sweet, nice, young, and gentle commander to suffer too much; she knew there was something she had to do about it and she silently vowed to do whatever she could to keep Kondou-san from suffering not just for his sake, but for Okita's as well.

"Okita-san… You really need to be heading back to headquarters" the sound of footsteps faintly in the distance pulled her back to reality; where 3 bodies of men lay dead in the streets not far from where they sat with Okita covered in blood that was not his own.

If they saw him here he would need to answer for this to Hijikata-san and this would tarnish the Shinsengumi since she was sure that Okita had no hard evidence these men really shot the Commander.

Okita followed her gaze and seemed to be thinking the same as he pushed himself to his feet, picking up his katana and sheathing it protectively at his left side.

Giving one last glance to the bodies surrounded by a pool of deep red crimson, they headed in the other direction relying on her sensitive hearing to avoid seeing people in the streets.

After a few moments of silence not far from the midpoint between her temporary home and the Shinsengumi headquarters they stopped to part ways; she assumed he was still disturbed since he was so quiet but she wasn't about to question him.

As his footsteps came to a stop in front of her, she dropped her gaze to the ground between them; she felt reluctant to stop but couldn't find the courage to keep him from leaving.

Her heart thrummed within her chest nervously just at the thought of leaving him again; She winced as a familiar searing pain echoed through her body.

"I _will_ see you again, Kurisu-kun"

She lifted her head with wide eyes to see Okita's half turned body somewhat facing her direction; his half lidded eyes which had been dull with lack of purpose were now bright and full of life again making her body flutter nervously.

All she could do was smile and nod excitedly to the young captain who seemed entertained by her reactions.

He turned to face her with a grin and pulled her into a gentle embrace; his warmth resonated throughout her whole body as she smiled into his chest, closed her eyes and inhaled the cool air surrounding them, as his sweet smell cascaded all around her.

His arms were wrapped protectively around her tiny frame which seemed so delicate that he could break her if he squeezed too hard. Her soft, brown locks of hair tickled his arms as the wind trailed them back and forth.

Quiet footsteps that seemed forever away picked up their pace as she heard voices being raised in alarm.

_'Looks like they finally found the bodies' _if she wouldn't have been a half demon neither of them would have known the villagers found the dead men she and Okita left behind.

"O-Okita…" her voice had a hint of worry as she gripped his brown blood stained haori and opened her eyes.

"Yeah, time to go _Ku-ri-su-chan_" her brows pulled together suspiciously as a hint of humor flashed through his shining emerald eyes.

"But, if you tell anyone about this young lady, I'll kill you" closing one of his eyes to wink at her, he flashed her one of his mischievous smiles that caused heat to rise to her cheeks.

"I'll be seeing you soon, _Ku-ri-su-chan_" turning to walk away he gave her a friendly wave and headed back towards the headquarters lazily.

She watched him for a few moments before turning and heading in the opposite direction from him; she knew he would stay true to his promise, but she had her own promises to keep as well.

After a minute of walking in silence she dodged behind a building and took shelter within the shadows and out of Okita's sight; if she was going to help Kondou-san she needed to do it fast, he was more than likely going to be moved from the headquarters at dawn if he was able to survive that long.

With that thought she sprinted out from the shadows and used all of her abilities to get to the headquarters as fast as she could without being noticed; she wouldn't get many windows to help him since there would surely be someone watching over him throughout the night so she would need to be patient.

_'I'll be there soon, Commander Kondou'_


	13. Chapter 13

**I do not own Hakuouki :) There will be similarities to the show! R&R please!**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

The closer Kurisutaru got to the Shinsengumi headquarters, the more cautious she had to be to make no noise.

It seemed every few seconds she was seeing another patrol walking through the streets of Kyoto; even though she was travelling extremely fast she didn't want to spend any more time than needed getting to her goal.

She came to a stop before the last corner of buildings that sat between her and the headquarters. Peering around the edge of the building she saw there were two guards at either side of the entrance with their alert on high.

_'They must be on edge because of the gunfire' _she bit her lower lip as she thought of a way she could sneak by them until it dawned on her.

She didn't have to sneak around the guards; she would go over the wall.

This insured that no guards would be alerted to her presence sneaking in, giving her all the time in the world to get to where Kondou-san's being treated and patiently wait for a window of opportunity.

_'Perfect.'_

She turned around and headed in the other direction, leaving the front gate she decided to follow the wall around the headquarters to where there were no guards who would spot her.

As she snuck around buildings to avoid being detected by passing patrols she finally caught her opening; a patrol just went by and there wouldn't be another one for what she estimated would be about 20 minutes.

Creeping out from the darkness with her hood pulled over her head she snuck to the side of the Shinsengumi headquarters and looked up at the top of the wall which seemed to tower over her.

_'Well, this might be harder than I thought…"_

Heading back away from the wall she walked across the street to the building parallel to it; facing the Shinsengumi headquarters she crouched down and prepared to give herself a running start.

Thrusting off of her right leg she took off but as her right leg thrust forward her toe hit the ground awkwardly causing her to lose balance and fall straight forward and almost onto her face.

Landing with a loud thud she skidded across the rough dirt on her knees, scraping them and her palms which had been slammed into the ground, preventing her whole body from impact.

_'Well that was graceful'_ the thought angrily as she brought herself to her feet again, patting the dirt off her hands and legs roughly; ignoring the small amount of blood and bruises that formed.

Her second attempt proved to be more fruitful, as she ran at the wall she jumped up as high as she could and the tips of her fingers just grazed the top of the wall before she landed against it with a loud thud.

_'If only I wasn't so goddamn short'_ she spat angrily in her head, returning to her spot across from the wall to begin her running start.

"Third time's the charm" she muttered to herself as she sprinted to the wall again, pushed herself off the ground roughly and the last two inches of her fingers wrapped over the top as the rest of her body slammed against the wall loudly.

She struggled to hold on as she shifted repeatedly to get a better hold on the wall; once she was able to wrap both hands comfortably around the top she lifted herself halfway over the top, being cautious that there was no one on the other side she flipped herself over the wall and onto the ground softly.

Sneaking behind the closest tree she assessed her surroundings; she wasn't far from Kondou-san's room but his blood smelled faint here which told her she wasn't too close to where his room was.

As she snuck from the cover of one tree to another, and around the edges to buildings Kondou-san's scent slowly became stronger; and it seemed the closer she got to where he was being treated the more often she saw the captains nervously walking by.

The first person she recognized was Saito-san; he had been walking past the tree she was taking cover behind.

As he walked past in pure silence she hardly realized he was there and her breath caught in her throat, she could have sworn that his eyes had caught a glimpse of her before she ducked behind the tree but he never investigated; instead he kept walking towards where she had came from and away from the scent of the commander's location.

Once Saito was out of sight she continued to follow the scent through the maze that was the Shinsengumi headquarters. She stopped when a pair of footsteps was headed in her direction; the first set of footsteps was heavy and somewhat lazy, and the second pair of footsteps was barely echoing the first.

She dodged behind a building and watched as Shinpachi-san and Harada-san went off towards the front gate without wearing their regular trademark haori. She assumed they were going to burn off some steam considering what had happened to Kondou-san.

As the scent of Kondou-san's blood became sickeningly strong she realized he must have bled almost to death as its smell coated everything around her and turned her stomach.

Finally she came to a room where she figured Hijikata-san, Yamazaki-san and Kondou-san were all taking refuge; a tall tree with bushes at the bottom sat just outside of room so she decided to quickly climb to the first set of branches and wait for her opportunity.

People came and went from the room, but Hijikata and Yamazaki both never let Kondou-san from their sight which frustrated her to no end; it had been what felt like hours since she arrived and nothing changed.

Her muscles grew stiff and cramped in their position sitting atop a thick branch in the tree, the leaves rustled with a breeze and the frozen air chilled her to the very core; she truly did hate the cold.

Shivering, she slowly rubbed her arms and legs to get some blood flowing faster through them; it wouldn't do her any good if she froze there when her opportunity finally came.

A sudden gust passed through the leaves as she shivered again and smelt a familiar scent on the air; her eyes widened as she frantically glanced around for the owner, someone who always seemed to be able to sneak up on her.

"What are you waiting up there for?" even though Saito-san's familiar voice was soft and quiet as he stood beneath her, out of the sight of anyone who might leave Kondou-san's room it still made her jump out of skin and gasp in surprise.

"S-Saito-san, h-how did you know-" she frantically tried to force the words out of her chattering teeth as the indigo haired man beneath her smiled softly in response.

"I followed you when I first saw you; you really aren't that sneaky sometimes" his soft voice mused as his smile reached his eyes; he truly was a handsome man and quite fun to be around once you got used to his quiet personality.

She sighed and smiled warmly back at the young captain beneath her before returning her gaze to the closed doors where Kondou-san was barely recovering, with the stench of blood covering the air around them.

"They cauterized his wounds to stop the bleeding hopefully in time for his body to be able to recover, but we won't know if Kondou-san will be able to hold out until morning." He kept his unwavering sight on her as he explained the Commander's situation briefly.

Her eyes widened as she looked back down and met the gaze of the blue eyed man underneath her; was he really in such a state where he could die at any moment?

"Your concern for Commander Kondou is written on your face quite plainly, Shinji-kun; as is your confusion for how I'm able to read your facial expressions so easily." He closed his eyes while the smile still faintly graced his features.

The door to Kondou-san's room opened as Hijikata-san stepped out from the room, taking a moment to glance to either side before walking to the edge of the top of the stairs that led down to the area where Kurisutaru and Saito-san were.

Her whole body tensed as she watched the Vice Commander cautiously and steadied her breath; she couldn't afford to be caught now and she silently prayed that Saito-san wouldn't give him any reason to stay.

Glancing down to where Saito-san had been standing she noticed he was no longer there at the foot of the tree, instead he was walking over to Hijikata-san quickly.

_'Please Saito-san, don't tell him I'm here' _her grip on the branch she clung to tightened as she prepared to make a run for it.

"Vice Commander, I have an urgent matter to discuss with yourself and Yamazaki-san."

_'Oh no, he wouldn't… Would he?'_

"What is it Saito, can't it wait until morning?" he seemed irritated at best but his respect for the young, highly skilled captain kept him from losing his temper.

"I am afraid it cannot wait any longer" Saito-san walked up to the door and summoned Yamazaki-san to follow him as he turned back to face the Vice Commander once again.

"Please, follow me" his pace quickened as he walked past Hijikata-san, only sparing a glance to the tree where Kurisutaru hid and returned his gaze to the empty space in front of him as Hijikata-san and Yamazaki-san followed closely behind him.

_'Thank you Saito-san; I am in your debt yet again' _she bowed slightly from where she was hidden, dropped from the tree and rushed into the Commander's room as quickly as she could once the trio was out of sight.

* * *

Quickly entered the room she set her gaze upon a mass on the floor beside the Commander; it seemed that Yamazaki-san had needed quite a bit of material in order to absorb Kondou-san's blood before cauterizing the wound.

Her stomach turned as the scent filled inside her airways and thickened in her throat, it made her uncomfortable to see the Commander like this, never mind seeing his blood soaked into a pile of cloth on the floor beside his body.

As her gaze turned from the pile of blood soaked clothes to the pale man lying on the floor in front of her, tears welled up in her eyes.

His skin was a pale white in result of the blood loss he had suffered from and his breathing was so shallow she could hardly hear him breath, never mind seeing his chest move at all.

His expression was that of pain while he lie on the ground unconscious with bandages wrapped around his chest and some blood still visible through the cloth where his gunshot wound was.

She had never seen such a good hearted, strong, kind, gentle man who she pictured as the strength and the center pillar of the Shinsengumi fall before; her heart ached just looking at him and she could only imagine how the Captains and everyone else who had been so close to him felt.

Removing the hood from her head she took a few steps towards him and knelt by his side, her hair fell over her left shoulder as she brought her face over his where it fell onto the floor loosely beside them.

She had her hands on either side of his body as his chill resonated through the air between them and reached her skin she shivered as she remembered the warmth he once gave off as he embraced her; she felt like he could break at any moment, like within an instant he could be gone forever.

_'Commander Kondou; please consider this… a token of how I feel"_ she pictured every captain of the Shinsengumi as she closed her eyes, the last face to pop into her mind was that of a handsome, emerald green eyed man who cherished the Commander, as a son would cherish a father.

Taking one last deep breath she laid her slender fingers along the jaw line of the man who was broken on the floor and brought her lips into contact with his, keeping her breathing steady; as her soft lips met with his she closed her golden brown eyes and held herself there until she felt his heartbeat grow stronger and the warmth return to his body.

She couldn't heal him completely, she just wanted to make sure he would survive; if anyone would have known about her being here or his miraculous recovery there would be too much confusion. She had to keep the knowledge of her presence to a minimum, especially when it came to Hijikata-san.

Once she felt his body had regenerated enough of the blood that was lost she decided it was time to go; not to mention the sound of footsteps that she assumed they belonged to Hijikata-san and Yamazaki-san were making their way back to his room also warned her it was time to leave as well.

As she stepped out from the room into the dark night, she was preparing to sprint back to the wall when she noticed that off in the distance was Saito-san and Yamazaki-san; but as Yamazaki-san noticed a hooded figure stepping out from the room he attempted to sprint towards her with Saito-san's hand holding him back as he gripped him tightly by the arm.

"Do not be alarmed, that person is an ally" she heard him explain vaguely to Yamazaki-san who only looked confused now; she decided to bow deeply to both of them before heading back to the inn to get some sleep now that her job was done.

* * *

Her journey back to the inn was a long, dull, and tiresome walk it seemed.

Her body was so drained of energy that it felt like she had been fighting for days on end; and to top it all off she was absolutely starving since she had hardly eaten all day.

_'Even getting over the wall for a second time was a true challenge' _she thought bringing her palm to her forehead embarrassingly.

Her memory flashed images of her attempts to get over the wall again to leave the Shinsengumi headquarters without being detected.

It had taken her 5 tries just to get a grip on the top of the wall, and whatever strength she had left was spent pulling her body over it and sprinting away from the guards she had unexpectedly ran into, since she had lowered her guard once her goal of saving the Commander had been completed.

_'So much has happened in one night'_ lowering her hand from her headshe tilted her face to the starlit sky as she walked, inhaling the chilled air as her hood fell loosely to her back.

She wondered if these types of things were going to become a common occurrence until she got back home; she hoped not otherwise she feared she'll get bored too easily once she goes back to her own era.

As she continued to walk she played with memories of her old life in her mind, and her thoughts on how to return were caught in an endless circle of questions without answers until she gave up trying to figure it out her own problems with no real solutions nor did she have any hints of where the solutions may lie.

Finally she had made it back to the small inn where she was staying and she crept silently to her own room; where she undressed and slipped comfortably into her bed.

It didn't take long for her to fall asleep even though her mind was plagued with questions, concerns, and other such thoughts. They all seemed to fall mute to the unending fatigue that tugged her into unconsciousness.


	14. Chapter 14

**I do not own Hakuouki :) There will be similarities to the show!**

**Please R&R! For those who have sent messages or reviews I appreciate the support:) I'm really excited for the next few chapters and I hope you'll thoroughly enjoy reading them as much as I'm enjoying writing them!:)**

* * *

**Chapter 14**

The sky was still covered with a pale shade of pink once she stepped out of the inn and took her first steps into the chilled morning air and yawned heavily.

Her nightmares lately had been the cause of her lack of sleep and also the cause of her current exhaustion; she really hoped that soon they would stop, or at least give her more information on how to get back to her own era but as it stood now all they were good for now was giving her anxiety and keeping her from getting a good night's rest.

Finally arriving to her new place of work she anxiously stepped inside where dark haired woman named Kimigiku-san waited her arrival eagerly.

"Are you prepared to get started, Kurisu-chan?" A singsong voice chimed beautifully the air as Kimigiku-san lifted a gorgeous purple and white kimono from the desk next to her and smiled warmly.

Nodding excitedly to the dark haired woman as she undressed herself and stepped into the mass of heavy clothing before being helped with the confusing array of clothes.

Once she was into the violet kimono Kimigiku-san motioned for her to settle on her knees, doing so with a bit of difficulty she managed to comfortably sit in silence as the young woman worked on her hair; carefully pinning it up beautifully with flower-like pins and applied her makeup for her with a soft determination within her deep purple eyes.

"Beautiful. Now, shall we begin?" a warm smile graced her features as Kurisutaru eagerly nodded in response.

Her training consisted of boosting her confidence when conversing with customers, preparing sake, and serving her customers food all while becoming used to the clothing she now wore which was heavy and restricting but none the less more elegant than anything she had ever worn before.

She ran through the proper things to say and how to deal with the intoxicated men towards the end of the night, and of course how to ensure that the customers enjoy getting the most out of their visit.

Her training ended just in time for the sun to set, giving a purple tint to the evening sky and she hurried off to prepare her room for her first night with excitement, and prayed silently that everything would go well.

As she entered the room she had previously prepared, the group of men who had been conversing with each other all turned their heads in her direction and their eyes widened as silence took over the room.

"My apologies for interrupting, my name is Kurisutaru and I have the pleasure of serving you all tonight" she did her best to relax her body and let her own natural beauty take care of the rest; Kimigiku-san said that if she tried to force herself to be friendly or to force herself to seem attractive to the men that it would be too obvious.

As she closed her eyes and bowed her head to the floor she heard the men begin conversing again amongst themselves, not quite as loudly as before but this calmed her anxious mind; if she had to spend the whole night in a room full of silent men it would have driven her to the brink of madness.

Sitting up she retrieved the sake that she had just finished preparing and poured some into each of the men's cups until the jug was gone and she went to retrieve another; she was also told that she would become accustomed to the intake of sake that people could handle and as she gained experience with that she would be able to regulate how much to give the customers, but that would take time.

Slowly as the men became more intoxicated as the night went on they also became louder, more vulgar, and the more they openly pushed themselves onto her; although once one of them would touch her inappropriately or say something crude the other men would either defend her or laugh in agreement with the rude gestures.

The men stayed for the whole night seeming as they were content with the food and drink; once their night was over and the last of them had taken their leave Kurisutaru cleaned up the mess leftover from the food trays and empty sake bottles that littered the floor.

"Very nice work this evening Kurisu-kun, those men were very pleased" Kimigiku-san's voice hummed gently as she helped Kurisutaru out of her kimono once the room was clean.

"Thank you very much, Kimigiku-san. Your training was truly amazing, I would have been lost without it!" she bowed after pulling her own clothing over her shoulders and tugging her Akaiittou to her side protectively, ignoring the questioning look in Kimigiku-san's eyes before turning to leave for the night.

"Good night, and be safe!" was all she heard before exiting the building so she turned with a smile and bowed again to the beautiful woman inside.

"Thank you, and good night!" giving a small wave she turned away from the building and headed back home to get a good night's sleep after a long days work; she was exhausted from her sleep deprivation this morning so now she felt like she weighed a ton of bricks.

Her steps were quick as she headed back to the inn through the chill of the late night knowing that a night of sleep awaited her anxiously; she didn't even care about her nightmares she just wanted to curl up into a warm bed and sleep.

As soon as she reached the inn that was exactly what she did, rushing to her room she pulled off her cold clothes and tugged down the covers off her bedding and slipped herself beneath them before closing her golden brown eyes heavily and falling quickly into a deep sleep.

* * *

When she woke up the next morning she felt as though she had slept for days, and was relieved that she hadn't had a single nightmare that night; she must be making progress in some way shape or form, or perhaps she was just so exhausted that her mind hadn't been able to wander enough to have any nightmares.

After eating breakfast quickly at the inn she headed off eagerly to begin her second day of training with Kimigiku-san.

She was clad in the same violet kimono as the previous night with her hair in a similar style and she found that she was oddly becoming accustomed to wearing these clothes in comparison to the night prior; they seemed to not be nearly as heavy and she became used to moving around without feeling too constricted.

* * *

As she slid the door open to the room she had prepared earlier a familiar scent invaded her senses as she looked up to gaze upon the owner with wide golden brown orbs.

Inside the room sat a single man whose very presence was able to send chills down her spine and turn her insides into knots; although at the moment she seemed generally unaffected by his presence, she had experienced these feelings in their previous encounters.

He seemed to sit in a relaxed pose not far off from where she was kneeling at the entrance to the room; his kimono was pulled open at the top which exposed his bare chest, his katana rested alongside him on the floor and his current state seemed to be care free as he gazed towards the door where she was as if he expected it to be her who walked in.

"What an unexpected surprise, Kurisutaru" the crimson eyes that flashed beneath blond strands of hair gazed at her lazily as she regained her composure in the doorway.

"Kazama-san, I seem to have the pleasure of joining you tonight. Is there any other guests joining us?"

She used the excuse of possibly needing more sake or food trays as a reason behind her questioning, but in reality she felt like she wasn't sure if she wanted to be left alone with this man considering his previous encounters with her.

"I came alone. No need to worry, I did not come here to fight, I merely came to enjoy the company of a woman along with the taste of some high quality sake." His eyes were closed and as he spoke she used this opportunity to quietly slide the door closed behind her and sat the tray of sake in front of him.

The contact of the tray on the floor so close seemed to startle him as he opened his eyes to where she would have been by the door and quickly shifted them over to where she sat currently beside him with the bottle of sake in both hands; in front of him sat a tray with a cup and a meal for him to enjoy as well.

"Who knew becoming a Maiko would be the key to increasing your skill of stealth" a small grin slightly tugged at the corners of his lips as he watched her pour into the cup he had risen in front of him.

She couldn't help but giggle quietly as he brought the cup to his lips; pausing before taking his first sip he eyed her cautiously.

"What did you do to the sake? Are you not laughing because you poisoned it perhaps?" his eyes narrowed as his question took her by surprise resulting in a small genuine gasp coming from her.

"P-Poisoned?! I wouldn't do such a thing, you said it yourself; you're not here to fight so why would I have any reason poison you?" she struggled to form the sentence as she continued giggling uncontrollably and finally was able to calm herself and smile warmly to the blond man in front of her.

"If that is not the cause of your laughter then what is?" she couldn't help but grin at his curiosity while he asked, still eyeing her cautiously without sipping the sake yet but it still held to his lips.

"Well first it was because I always thought I was quite good at being sneaky; but after coming here people all tell me I'm quite obviously not, as much as I hate to admit it." She brought her hand up to her mouth and smiled before speaking again.

"After that it was simply because you assume the worst of me, Kazama-san. I don't think I could just poison you for no reason and I have no animosity towards you at this very moment in time so please drink freely knowing that" her golden brown eyes watched as he drank the untainted sake within the cup and held it out for her to refill; his gaze never left her as he studied her movements and probably questioned her answers.

"I'm rather surprised by your choice of work, Kurisutaru" his eyes left hers as he looked her up and down before returning to meet her gaze again; she didn't understand why but heat rose to her cheeks as their gazes met again and it took her longer than usual to form proper sentences.

"I spent an entire day searching and by the time night fell I found this place; the women were so beautiful, I just felt drawn to it" she naturally responded to his empty cup by holding out the bottle to fill it again, pouring the last of the liquid into the cup she set it aside and reached for another.

"Beautiful indeed" his words came out as he seemed lost within his thoughts drinking another cup of the sake with his gaze focused on the wall across the room.

"U-Um, Kazama-san… Don't you think you're drinking a little fast without eating anything?" she wondered looking at the two empty bottles of sake and the untouched food on his plate.

"Don't be foolish, woman. It will take much more than this to affect me in any way" his crimson eyes looked to hers slyly as he held his empty cup out to be filled from the third bottle of sake she had prepared before coming into the room.

_'These were supposed to last me for a while; this guy is a tank'_ her thoughts were interrupted as he put the cup down loudly and dropped his gaze to the floor.

"Kazama-san?" she tilted her head with worry as her right hand automatically reached out halfway between them and hesitated before recoiling back to her chest.

When he didn't answer she set the current bottle of sake down and lifted herself to her feet slowly, waiting for any sign of a response from him.

"I shall prepare more sake, please be patient" she turned and headed out of the room quietly and into the adjoining room to warm a few more bottles; still concerned about his sudden change in attitude.

After a few minutes of being absent she returned to his side; he had lifted his head and helped himself to another cup of sake while she was gone which seemed to return him to normal as he watched her kneel down next to him slightly closer than before and set the new bottles down while taking the current one back into her hands before his gaze wandered to the wall.

"Kazama-san" only his eyes shifted to look at her when she called his name; his fierce gaze didn't leave her face which was tilted down towards the floor as she contemplated her questions.

"Did, Did you know him?" she remained still and he returned his gaze to the wall on the opposite side of the room.

"I did not. All I have ever known about him was his immense power and his unmatched infatuation with the human species." She tilted her head back up to look at him and his crimson eyes shifted to meet hers causing her entire body to flutter nervously.

The sound of shouting and angry voices made its way to the room they were in as she filled his cup again; now onto the fourth bottle of sake he still hadn't eaten anything and she eyed the food before realizing he was still watching her.

"Will this satisfy you?" he asked with the hint of humor still in his eyes as he chewed the piece of food he had just picked up from his plate.

She nodded happily as she filled his empty cup again and watched him tilt the liquid into his mouth again, holding it out to be refilled she was surprised when the door to her room slid open revealing a young woman in the doorway, bowing in apology for the interruption.

"Kurisu-kun, I'm out of sake and my customers are angry to have to wait for me to head back for more, may I borrow a few bottles if you have extra?" she whispered with a worried look on her face and something tugged inside of her making her want to help the young new Maiko.

"Of course, I will fetch you some" the woman thanked Kurisutaru as she turned to fetch the bottles she had already prepared for Kazama-san.

"Go bring these to them and I will bring you some more" she handed the 3 bottles to the young Maiko and sent her back to her room to serve the group of men.

"I will prepare some more, please be patient" she bowed to Kazama-san and lifted herself to her feet; heading back to the adjoining room she began warming another few bottles.

As the bottles were in the middle of being warmed a yawn fought its way to the surface and she succumbed to it, forcing herself to be quiet she almost jumped out of her skin when she noticed Kazama-san was standing behind her in the doorway.

"K-Kazama-san, w-what're you-"she fought the words out before he slipped his hand around her arm and twisted her around to face him.

As she was being twirled around to him she lost her balance and stumbled forwards with her arms extended instinctively; his eyes widened in surprise when she stumbled right into him and weighed heavily against his chest for support and a grin made its way to his lips.

"O-Oh! I'm so sorry Kazama-san, I lost my footing" she flushed a crimson red as she regained her composure and bowed slightly in front of him; she couldn't properly bow because of the short distance between them.

His hands were like ice as he tilted her chin up to meet the gaze of his crimson orbs which seemed to see straight through her as her stomach did flips inside her body and jolts of electricity fluttered through her chest as she held her breath.

"Interesting" his face remained unchanged as he leaned closer and brushed his lips against hers and the tips of their noses touched causing her heart to throb loudly against her chest to the point where she was sure he could hear it; he paused for a moment to meet her unwavering gaze before his eyes slid shut and he closed the distance between them.

Crushing his lips against hers he held her there for a moment with his hands wrapped around her neck but broke the contact not too long after and smirked in response to her flushed face that couldn't hide behind the pale makeup.

Without a word spoken he released her from his hold and turned back to the other room, leaving her stunned and on her own she turned to put the sake onto a tray to bring to the other Maiko; surely she was in need of it by now.

Usually his very presence sent her skin crawling, and his voice made her flee with terror; if that was the case then why did she allow him to kiss her? Why didn't she stop him?

When she returned to the room she saw Kazama-san sipping from his cup peacefully with his eyes closed; she wondered if this was what it was like to live a peaceful life without the worries she had been plagued with lately.

She took her seat beside the full demon in front of her and refilled his now empty cup with a nervous smile; she didn't know how to react to what happened so she figured it was best to pretend it hadn't happened at all.

Surely the sake had simply gotten to him finally considering he hadn't eaten anything the whole night yet he had been drinking bottles of sake for hours now.

"You need to be cautious when using your powers, Kurisu-chan. From what I experienced a few moments ago, if you don't keep them in check surely something bad is bound to happen sooner or later." His eyes burned into hers with his warning and he pulled himself to his feet after downing the last cup of sake and attaching his katana to his side.

"I enjoyed this very much, but it is time I leave. Thank you, Kurisutaru" he spoke while watching her from the corner of his eye while standing in the doorway before sliding it open.

"I'm pleased I was able to be of service to you, Kazama-san. It was a pleasure." She bowed deeply as she spoke; when she rose from the bow she noticed the door was already opened, he was out of sight and his Aura was gone completely.

_'What on earth was __**that**__ about?!'_ her mind raced as she replayed her kiss with Kazama in her mind over and over, trying to make sense of what happened and what his warning could have possibly meant.


End file.
